Image Previews Picks: March 2023
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
Night Fever HC
On one hand, it’s a new OGN from the team of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.
On the other, it’s the story of a man on a business trip to Europe who finds himself being guided into the hidden world of the night. A place, we’re told, that is “without rules or limits.” A place that our protagonist may find himself trapped in and having to do some possibly unsavory things in order to get home. If this doesn’t sound all that interesting to you, then you’re not alone.
The solicitation text makes “Night Fever” sound like the story of an ordinary guy who finds his way behind the curtain to get a look at the seedier, unsavory side of humanity and then quickly comes to regret his circumstances. While this may not reflect the final product, it doesn’t sound like the kind of genre-busting experiences that the creators have been known to deliver on a regular basis. Still, the creators have been on a hot streak for years and it’s not like I’m going to say no to an OGN with an all-new premise from them. It is, however, good to already have confirmation that their next project will be another volume of the consistently great “Reckless” series after this.
Phantom Road #1 (of ???): Dom is a trucker with a tragic past who finds himself on the run from literal monsters when he stops to pull Birdie and a mysterious artifact from a car crash. This is described as the fusion of grindhouse horror with supernatural fantasy. “High concept” precedes “supernatural fantasy” in the solicitation text, but it’s hard to see anything out of the ordinary about this setup. Particularly as it comes from writer Jeff Lemire who likely stumbled upon the idea of a trucker fighting monsters one afternoon and set about to find an artist to make it look good. Gabriel Hernandez Walta is the artist in question, and I have no doubt he’ll do his best to do justice to this setup. However, while I may have faith that a creative team like Brubaker and Phillips can possibly elevate or subvert a familiar setup, Lemire has long since expended any such goodwill with me.
Dead Romans #1 (of 6): A Germanic prince swears vengeance against the Roman Empire and raises an army in order to do it. He also promises to make the woman he loves a queen in the process, but this may not be what she actually wants. The part about the queen is new, but this basically sounds like another take on “Spartacus” but with lush, beautiful illustrations promised from artist Nick Marinkovich. I’m not familiar with him, nor writer Fred Kennedy. So it’s kind of hard to determine whether I should be excited for this, or just go watch the original Kubrick-directed classic again instead.
Forged #1: I realize they’re shooting for over-the-top bombast, but a sentence like “In the 11th Millennium of the rule of the Eternal Empress, a squad of planet-smashing super soldiers find their routine mission to be anything but,” just has me thinking that the creators of this new series really love Warhammer 40K and are trying to put own spin on things. The creators in question being co-writers Greg Ruck and Eric Trautmann, with Mike Henderson providing the art. Normally Rucka’s name in the credits would be a selling point, but this series is also promising “an over-the-top pulp adventure of sex, violence, and sci-fi inspired by Conan, Heavy Metal, and other comics you tried to hide from your parents.” None of which are the kind of things I associate with the writer who gave us “Queen & Country,” “Lazarus,” and “The Old Guard.” If Rucka is trying to branch out, however, good for him! If nothing else, I’m kind of curious to see what he’ll deliver with something like this, or if he’s just onboard to do his buddy Trautmann a solid.
No/One #1 (of 10): Another round of Image solicitations brings another new entry in the Massive-Verse which started with “Radiant Black.” This is being billed as a crime/superhero series taking place after the Richard Roe murders shocked the city of Pittsburg. In addition to a new political movement and copycat killers, a new vigilante has sprung up in order to hold the powerful accountable. “Radiant Black” co-creator Kyle Higgins co-writes this maxiseries with Brian Buccellato while Geraldo Borges provides the art. Higgins’ involvement is noteworthy, though the only lingering question I have after reading this is if the “Richard Roe murders” are referring to something that happened in one of the many Massive-Verse series I’m not reading. With “Radiant Black” trending downward and “Radiant Red” failing to deliver on its promise (review forthcoming), I’m still not feeling the need to invest any further in this superhero universe that appears to be expanding too fast for its own good.
A.R.C. (One-Shot): Co-writers Matt Hawkins and Ryan Cady, along with artist Atilio Rojo, look to give us a more grounded take on “Batman” set against the anti-poaching effort in Africa. Scion to industry Noah Ehran fights against poaching by political and activist means by day. By night, however, he leads the Animal Rights Coalition who take the fight to the poachers themselves. So… “Batman” if he was willing to shoot the bad guys in the face, then? Not a bad setup, but the fact that this is a one-shot implies that Hawkins and Cady are testing the waters to see if they can spin a miniseries or ongoing title out of it. No harm in that, though does anyone want to take any bets on whether or not Hawkins will be tying this title to the larger creator-owned universe he established in “Think Tank?”
I Hate This Place #6: Brace yourself, but Kyle Starks has finally had one of his series at Image make it to a second arc. His and Artyom Tomplin’s series about a lesbian couple who inherited a house in the countryside, only to find out it that it is haunted, cursed, and maybe even prone to alien investigations has done what “Assassin Nation” (still missed) and “The Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton” (not quite as missed, but still remembered) could not and good for it. While this may not be as funny as Starks’ past work, it’s not trying to be and the first volume does a good job delivering on the horror vibes courtesy of Tomplin’s art. As for what the second arc is going to be able, it’ll be following up on Trudy’s family coming to bring her back into the fold. Which is even worse than it sounds as they’re some kind of trigger-happy religious cultists.
Department of Truth Complete Conspiracy vol. 1 HC: Collects issues #1-17 in one volume. The collected edition of the first five issues of this series was one of my favorite reads of 2021 and while vol. 2 wasn’t quite on the same level, vol. 3 convinced me that this series still had more to offer. So if you haven’t read this excellent conspiracy-themed series from writer James Tynion IV, artist Martin Simonds (and friends) then you should pick this up as soon as it comes out.
Seven Sons: Billed as Jae Lee’s first creator-owned work since 1994. If you had told me at that time Lee would be able to finish a seven-issue creator-owned miniseries, I wouldn’t have believed you. However, we’re not in the 90’s anymore and Lee has demonstrated himself to be a more reliable creator in the intervening decades. Which leads us to “Seven Sons,” a miniseries written by Robert Windom and Kelvin Mao about seven identical brothers born to different mothers on July 7, 1977, where one is predicted to be the new messiah. 21 years later, one of them escapes their sheltered life to find out about the truth of his existence. Lee’s art has always been captivating, and also creepy enough to deliver on the unsettling religious overtones promised by this setup. Even if I’m not sure if the story is going to go anywhere interesting (place your bets now on whether or not the chosen brother is actually meant to be the Antichrist instead of the Savior) this could be worth your time depending on how you feel about getting more of Lee’s art in your hands.