Image Previews Picks: December 2019
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Outer Darkness vol. 2: Castrophany of Hate
So in case you didn’t get the message from my review of this last week, I REALLY liked the first volume of “Outer Darkness.” To the point where I’m actually kind of concerned that I don’t hear more people talking about it. After that first volume I’d like to see it have a good 60-issue run like “Chew” did and I’m not sure if that’s going to happen. So yeah, you should definitely pick up that first volume and set aside some money for vol. 2 in December. Santa knows that it’ll make for a better gift than the mystery bag of crap that’s being offered in these solicitations.
As for what this second volume is about: The solicitation text promises a look into Capt. Rigg’s past, which should explain A) why he’s such an asshole and B) his real reason for accepting the captain’s seat on the Charon. Oh, and we’re going to get to see what a haunted house looks like in space. I’m all for that — as well as seeing what kind of (literally devilish) mischief Alastor and Shin will be getting up to here.
Oblivion Song #22: From the solicitation text, “It never should have happened, but it has. The Faceless Men are here, on Earth.” No, it was always going to happen. You don’t create a series about parallel Earths interacting with each other and keep the big bad that’s on one confined to it. Once the Faceless Men were revealed it was only a matter of time before they made their way to our Earth. Whether or not that’s a bad thing still remains to be seen. Maybe it’s explained in vol. 3, which is still on my “To Buy” list that still needs to reach critical mass before I send out my next order of comics.
Rumble vol. 6: Last Knight: Hrm… That title sounds awfully definitive. I was prepared for the series to start a new arc with the anthology issues that were #’s 16 & 17, but now they start to look like a wake. Could this be the last we see of Rathraq and his human companions? Or is this just another pause before writer John Arcudi springs his latest resurrection upon us?! That would be nice, but even if the former is the case I’ll be able to live with that.
The Old Guard: Force Multiplied #1 (of 5): Do my eyes deceive me? More than two years after the first volume was collected, we’re finally getting the first issue of the second volume of this good series about immortal soldiers in the modern world. The solicitation text mentions the Netflix movie with Charlize Theron and Chiwetel Ejiofor that’s in production right now and I thought we’d have to wait until that arrived before we’d hear about a new volume. (On that note, I’m hoping the recently premiered “Stumptown” series will at least get us one new volume of that series from Rucka and artist Justin Greenwood.) Anyway, actual details about this second volume are light, but I’m just glad it’s here and hope that we don’t have to wait as long for a third volume.
Deadly Class #43: Yes, I know I mentioned the previous issue last month just to make a dick joke. This time it’s different. This time the solicitation text says, “‘Bone Machine’ Part Four: The gang catch a break.” To which I say, “…RIGHT IN THE FACE!” Eh? Eh?
Sea of Stars vol. 1: Lost in the Wild Heavens: Okay, so I’m not surprised that this new series from co-writers Jason Aaron and Dennis “Hopeless” Hallum, and artist Stephen Green made it to its first volume. Even Aaron’s “The Goddamned” made it to one volume before it disappeared. No, the real test will be whether it makes it to vol. 4 in a timely fashion because that’s when “Southern Bastards” went on hiatus after it flew off the rails, schedule-wise. I’d still like to see that series come back at some point. Yet even if Aaron’s demanding schedule at Marvel causes him to drop out of this series, at least we’ll have Hallum to finish it off. …Unless his slightly less demanding schedule at Marvel causes him to drop out as well. Then I guess it’ll be down to Stephen Green to make his writing debut to keep the ship going!