Image Advance Arrivals: November 2024
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Transformers vol. 2: Transport to Oblivion
John and I talked about vol. 1 when it came out, and we were both pretty impressed by it. Even though it was essentially another retelling of the familiar Transformers origin, there were still enough fun and interesting details to the story that entertained the both of us. Not to mention creator Daniel Warren Johnson showed that he’s still one of the best artists in the business as he delivered breathtakingly kinetic art that elevated the story as a whole.
So it’s a little concerning that Johnson is stepping back from art duties with this volume. He’s co-illustrating a new miniseries, “The Moon is Following Us,” with Riley Rossmo, while Jorge Corona steps up to illustrate this new volume. Those are some very big shoes Corona has to fill, but if Johnson thinks he’s up to the task then he’s probably going to do a good job. We also get to witness the proper debut of Shockwave in this series after his cameo in “Void Rivals,” and I’m already afraid about what that means for Starscream. Though I’m more interested in seeing if this series can maintain the solid momentum it achieved after that great first volume.
G.I. Joe #1: Hyped as the biggest comic launch of the decade… and they might be right about that. Not only is this riding the hype wave of the Energon Universe in general, but it’s also coming off four well-received miniseries – each of which debuted to bigger sales than the previous one. So I wish I could be more excited by this, but I’m still generally pretty ambivalent about writer Joshua Williamson’s work after what I’ve read from him previously. Maybe his “Superman” stories will change that? His collaborator on the “Duke” miniseries, Tom Reilly, illustrates this issue, which is certainly likely to entertain everyone who liked what the creators did on that title.
Also of note to “Joe” fans in these solicitations are the Destro and Scarlett collections. While I’m sure that there are people who are looking forward to see writer Dan Watters and artist Andrei Bressan’s take on everyone’s favorite Scottish metal-face-helmeted weapons dealer mix it up with the terrible twins Tomax and Xamot, I’m more interested in seeing the Joes’ red-haired sharpshooter tackle Clan Arashikage. Not because of the Snake Eyes connection (he’s not even mentioned here), but because it’s coming from a writer that I like: Kelly Thompson. So if you do read a review of “Scarlet” around here before the year’s end, know that it was likely down towards how I feel about the writer rather than the franchise she’s representing.
Hornsby & Halo #1 & The Rocketfellers #1: Two new launches from writer Peter Tomasi this month. Both are part of his own imprint “Family Odysseys,” though the latter is also part of Geoff Johns’ white-hot Ghost Machine imprint. As for the series themselves: “H&”H” is fantasy take on the origin of “New Gods” Orion and Mister Miracle with the ruling families of Heaven and Hell agreeing to having an angel child be raised by a family of demons and vice versa. “Rocketfellers” has a dysfunctional 25th Century family fleeing to our present day with the fate of humanity in their hands. These aren’t bad setups and they’ve got solid artists working on them with Peter Snejbjerg on “H&H” and Francis Manapul on “Rocketfellers.” Maybe not must-read material, but both titles sound promising if nothing else.
The Walking Dead Deluxe #100: Yeah, I’m as surprised as you that this deluxe reprint of this series – in color and with creator commentary from Robert Kirkman – has managed to last this long. The idea of getting commentary from Kirkman in each issue is certainly appealing, but not nearly enough to get me to consider re-buying the series in this format. Maybe if they start re-issuing the “Deluxe” editions in compendium form, however…
Adventureman vol. 1: The title character used to be the greatest pulp hero of all time, until he disappeared in a cliffhanger for the ages. Now, in the present day, Claire and her superfan son Tommy are going to unravel the mystery of Adventureman’s disappearance, and maybe even face down the forces that caused him to disappear the first time. Maybe I wrote something like this ahead of this volume’s release in hardcover way back in December 2020. I never got around to picking it up because $25 felt kind of steep for a story written by Matt Fraction, a writer who is the very definition of “uneven” in my book. Fortunately my patience has finally paid off and now we’re getting this collection in softcover for nearly half of the original cover price at $13. That will make it a lot easier to appreciate the story’s charms and forgive its flaws, for sure. As well as bask in the art from Terry and Rachel Dodson too.
Desolation Jones: The Biohazard Edition HC: Deluxe reissuing of the miniseries written by Warren Ellis and illustrated by J.H. Williams III. The title character is a former MI6 agent who underwent a procedure that was supposed to make him a better spy, but left him a broken man. Now living in L.A. and making a living doing odd jobs for its community of disenfranchised spooks, Jones has come across what could be his weirdest and most sordid job yet: Tracking down the lost porno of Adolf Hitler. It’s been a while since I’ve read this, but I remember it initially coming off like another exercise in shock value from the writer before revealing itself to be something deeper. That said, the main reason this is being reissued is so that everyone can appreciate the utterly fantastic art from Williams again as most of the extras here revolve around that.
Timing/Luck: Not actually a work of comics, but of photojournalism from Gerry Duggan. “Timing/Luck” collects hundreds of the “Deadpool” and “X-Men” writer’s photographs over the years as he goes back and forth between Hollywood and the comics world. While the solicitation text says that the photos will collectively tell Duggan’s story, there’s no indication that there’s any prose accompaniment to clarify things. I’m curious, but I’d like to know more about how things will be presented here before I decide to plunk down some actual money for this.
Local Man vol. 3: Lost Ones: Nothing about the solicitation text indicates that this is going to be the final volume of Jack “Crossjack” Xaver’s story. Which is disappointing because it appears things are only going to get EVEN WORSE for him here. While most everyone in his hometown hated him through the first two volumes, vol. 2 ended with that hate looking to make a nationwide debut. Will that make this story any more interesting? Hard to say right now. Same goes for the additional “Bad Girls” one-shot and flash-forward issue #25 collected here as well.
Monstress vol. 9: The Possessed: It feels like we’ve been waiting an extra-long time for this volume. Maybe it’s because vol. 8 was a detour into the past that didn’t see Maika and Kippa returning to the present until its end? The solicitation text lets us know that a year has passed since they first disappeared and things are now bad. How bad? Bad like Zinn is now in the hands of Maika’s diabolical father. Which means that our protagonist is going to show us just how bloody a blood feud can get – with pirates! I’m very much looking forward to seeing how that will be.
So, in case anyone’s wondering what the difference between me being disappointed in seeing how bad things are getting for the protagonist of “Local Hero” versus that of “Monstress” it’s all a matter of how the creative team plays it. Tim Seely and Tony Fleecs tend to play things getting worse for Jack as a way to grind the hero down and make things more miserable for him and the reader. Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda aren’t above grinding down their protagonist, but they also make time to showcase how these trials cause her to grow as a person, while also having things play out in ways that don’t play to reader expectations. That’s why I’m eager to read “Monstress” vol. 9 and wondering if I should just call it quits after “Local Man” vol. 3.
The Sacrificers vol. 2: Vol. 1 spent its time establishing what the general premise of this series was going to be. With that out of the way, now it’s time for… PIGEON VENGEANCE!!! Our bird protagonist was dealt a bad hand in the first volume after he found out the real nature of the world he lived in. Now, he’s got the power to take revenge on those who condemned him to it. Meanwhile, god scion Soluna is about to find out just how bad people like Pigeon had it under her parents’ rule. All courtesy of writer Rick Remender and artist Max Fiumara, who finally showed me what he’s really capable of in the previous volume. So even if Remender screws up the follow-up (which I’m pretty sure he won’t), it’ll be cool seeing what other visual flourishes Fiumara has in store for us in vol. 2.
Undiscovered Country vol. 5: Bounty: Prepare to witness America’s agricultural might, while seeing our protagonists being menaced by the giant praying mantises from the cover of this volume. Billed as the penultimate volume of the series, the solicitation text also promises answers to questions us readers have had since the first volume. That’s good. I mean, if these answers are satisfying, then that could help build momentum for this title’s finale. Which it could really use as it feels like this title has become an afterthought for its creators as they’ve been busy with bigger and buzzier creator-and-corporate-owned projects since this title’s debut.