Image Previews Picks: October 2016
So, how about that Frank Cho walking of his job of providing variant covers for Greg Rucka’s “Wonder Woman” run? I was tempted to take the artist’s side at first since I feel he gets a lot of flack for having a style where all the women default to “sexy” and the various “Outrage!” sketch variants he does at conventions (whose trolling I find deeply amusing). Then it was pointed out to me that this “Wonder Woman” job he had was a paid gig and therefore subject to DC’s, and Rucka’s as well in this case, approval. Now, he just looks like a whiner throwing a hissyfit because he couldn’t draw Wonder Woman’s panties. The smart thing for him to do would’ve been to acquiesce to the publisher’s demands and alter his art as they saw fit. Then he could’ve sold the original “uncensored” art for an exorbitantly marked up price, satisfied in the knowledge this is what his fans really wanted. He’s out of a job now, but you shouldn’t feel sorry for him. He’ll be back either at Marvel, or doing his own thing through Image drawing all the sexy women he can any way he wants.
Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye #1: The latest title from Gerard Way’s “Young Animal” imprint is a Vertigo-style take on an old, mostly forgotten character. Carson was a spelunker who had lots of adventures below the surface of the Earth and met the love of his life. Along the way, he also picked up the titular cybernetic eye. While Carson was prepared to live a mundane life with his wife after they sent their only daughter off to college, his wife passed away and then he started to hallucinate. I’m intrigued, even though this is a co-written effort between Way and a writer I’m unfamiliar with, Jon Rivera. This is cause for concern because the last time I read something Way co-wrote, it was “The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys,” and that wound up only having Becky Cloonan’s art to redeem it. The art here is from another talented artist, Michael Avon Oeming, and while that means it’ll be great to look at, you should probably give up on seeing a new volume of “Powers” while he’s working on this.
Also launching from Young Animal this month is “Shade, The Changing Girl” from writer Cecil Castellucci and artist Marley Zarcone. This appears to be a pseudo-sequel to the seminal run from Peter Milligan as Rac Shade is name-checked in the solicitations. It involves a girl from the planet Meta, Loma, who is bored with her life and decides to steal Shade’s madness vest and go check out Earth. While she figures that life on this primitive planet will be easy with madness on her side, she winds up inhabiting the body of the school bully that everyone was glad to be done with. This is in addition to the people from Meta who probably want the madness vest back as well. It’s a good setup, enough to get me to check out the first volume. This is in spite of the fact that we still haven’t seen the entirety of Milligan’s run reprinted.
Superman #’s 8-9: You know, I think this might be the arc to get me onboard the Tomasi/Gleason run on this title. Called “Return to Dinosaur Island” it features Superman (and his son) being transported to the title place with no way off. If that doesn’t get your attention, then consider that these two issues feature art from Doug Mahnke who excels at drawing crazy monster action like this. Well, Mahnke is the solicited artist for these issues. I may have to reconsider my stance if someone else winds up drawing them instead.
Midnighter and Apollo #1 (of 6): How well-received was Steve Orlando’s “Midnighter” series? Enough to give him a victory lap miniseries teaming the title character up with the love of his life, Apollo. I have yet to get around to buying the first volume of the original series, despite the good word-of-mouth. Time to see about fixing that problem.
He-Man/Thundercats #1 (of 6): If you’re not interested in this from the title alone, then it’s probably not for you.
The Flintstones #4: In which a strange new concept called “marriage” comes to Bedrock and threatens to upend the whole sex cave status quo. I’m all for bringing new concepts to this classic series. The idea of a “sex cave” is not one of them, even if it’s just to get rid of it.
Batman vol. 10: Epilogue: A fitting title since it collects the final issue of the Snyder/Capullo run and the last bits of errata from the “New 52” era. I was considering just ordering issue #51 by itself, but this volume also includes the “Batman: Rebirth” issue as well. So there’s a tangible link from the old run to the new run that will hopefully give me enough information to determine if I want to get onboard the Tom King/Mikel Janin/David Finch/Whoever’s Not Busy This Month run. I guess I will be picking this up after all.
DC/Dark Horse: Justice League vol. 1: Well, I was wondering why “Superman vs. Predator” wasn’t included in the Dark Horse group of crossovers. It turns out that DC was saving that one for this collection, which also features “Superman vs. Terminator: Death to the Future,” “Batman/Hellboy/Starman,” and “Ghost/Batgirl.” I only own the “Batman/Hellboy/Starman” crossover thanks to a previous “Hellboy” collection, but the rest will be new to me. They could also be terrible, but it’s a good value for my money (famous last words, I know).
Gotham Academy vol. 3: Yearbook: Come on everyone! Time to get this series back on the right track!
The Lost Boys #1 (of 6): If you’ve been waiting for a sequel to the cult classic 80’s vampire movie, then the wait is over! Me? I still need to watch the movie first. But when I do, I’ll be ready for the miniseries from writer Tim Seeley and artist Scott Godlewski that has a group of vampire babes descending on Santa Carla. This is, of course, assuming that I can get over my disappointment at seeing this once-proud imprint turned into a home for comic book sequels to cult classic 80’s vampire movies…
The Complete Suiciders: The Big Shake: Lee Bermejo’s series about a violent futuresport in the post-quake ruins of Los Angeles was always of marginal interest to me. Especially after the first volume arrived in a hardcover format. I know DC wants to keep Bermejo happy, but seriously? Anyway, the series never caught fire between the two miniseries and now they’ve been collected together in one softcover volume. Is this more appealing to me? Certainly. Enough to get me to buy it? Eh, maybe.