Image Previews Picks: October 2022
Above-the-Board Recommendation:
The Department of Truth vol. 4: The Ministry of Lies
This is a series that burst out of the gate with a really great first volume, stumbled a bit with a vol. 2 that was only good, and rebounded with a third volume that got things right back on track. It did this by fleshing out the history of the Department and its current director while also setting up future plot points that involve everything from the Illuminati to an alien that might actually be a living idea (or was it the other way around). Another one of these was the Russian counterpart to America’s Department of Truth, named The Ministry of Lies to mock what was being done overseas. While vol. 2 illustrated that America’s narrative won out over the Russian one, there’s no evidence to suggest that their opposition has been cooling their heels in the meantime. As to what they’ve been doing to take back the narrative, well, I imagine creators James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds have some very interesting ideas about that.
Junkyard Joe #1: The first comic to follow up the world established by “Geiger” and its “80-Page Special” isn’t a second volume of that series. Nope, it’s a spinoff comic featuring the robot Geiger fought at the end of the original miniseries. That would be Junkyard Joe whose history stretches all the way back to Vietnam and a cartoon strip illustrated by one Muddy Davis. I enjoyed “Geiger” well enough as the first creator-owned project from Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, who return here as writer and artist, respectively. That said, the miniseries left me more inclined to read more adventures of the title character, not the one robot he fought at the end. Maybe this new series will offer greater insight into the world that the creators are giving us and a glimpse of their overarching plans. Or maybe it’ll just be more setup with story that’s hopefully good enough to support it.
Dark Ride #1: Writer Joshua Williamson and artist Andre Bressan follow up their series “Birthright” with a new one about the amusement park… FROM HELL! Well, maybe not the entire park, just its rollercoaster The Devil’s Due which has the reputation of being the scariest ride ever created. Getting to work on it has been a dream of Owen Seasons, and it’s about to become his biggest nightmare as well. While Williamson has found great success over at DC, I’ve not really been impressed with what I’ve read of his work there. I have read a few volumes of “Birthright,” but I’ve yet to get around to finishing it. Unless this turns out to be a big, breakout hit, I think I’ll be fine passing on this as well.
Kaya #1: Co-creator and artist of “Deadly Class,” Wes Craig, is back with a new series. While the solicitation text doesn’t indicate it as such, the cover art for the first issue has an all-ages vibe with its exaggerated, Kirby-esque, kid-friendly style. It’s about a girl named Kaya who has a magic arm and is tasked with bringing her younger brother to a safe haven where he’s supposed to learn how to overthrow the empire that destroyed their home. This doesn’t sound like anything special, but Craig’s involvement does at least put it on my radar. I could check it out when the first volume arrives, or I could finally get around to reading “The Gravediggers Union,” which was the creator’s previous solo project before this one, to get a better idea of what he’s capable of when not working with Rick Remender.
Halloween Party (One-Shot): Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn and Scott Koblish are back with another story following up their “The Secret Story of the War on Weed” graphic novella. Where that comic skewered a very specific subject, this one looks to cast a bit of a wider net as the monsters that traditionally frighten everyone on Halloween try to figure out how to compete with how scary real life has become for everyone in America. Scotch McTiernan and Weed Thing return from the previous story, because why not. “War on Weed” was a fun look at 80’s American excess in regards to the war on drugs (and marijuana specifically), even if it wasn’t quite a return to form for these creators who gave us a great run of “Deadpool.” Still, I wouldn’t be averse to reading more of Scotch’s adventures. Especially if they produce enough to fill out a whole collected edition at some point!
Nocterra Special: Val: It looks like the plan for this series is that creators Scott Snyder and Tony Daniel complete an arc, take a month off, and then deliver a one-shot before diving into the next arc. While the previous one-shot focused on villain Blacktop Bill, this one promises a look into protagonist Val’s past as she reckons with a potential ally’s promise to take her convoy to Eos. Vol. 2 of this series is still on my “To Buy” list, so I’m still invested in what’s being talked about here. I just have this nagging feeling that it’s all going to be delivered in a way that only flirts with moral ambiguity and ultimately winds up being a safe, predictable bit of storytelling. A good-looking bit of storytelling, however, as Snyder and Daniel have recruited the very talented Francis Manapul to illustrate this one-shot.
Farmhand vol. 4: The last time we saw Zeke Jenkins, Monica Thorne had suborned control of the Jedediah Seed and had (possibly?) taken over the world in the process, leaving our protagonist standing at his mother’s grave with a shovel. Kind of dark and ominous, don’t you think? For a while, it seemed that Rob Guillory’s series was going to end on that point as well.. That turned out not to be the case as you can see here. I’m glad for that, even though creator Rob Guillory has some work to go in order to get the series back on track as it’s clear the focus is going to be on straight horror from here on out. I’m definitely invested in seeing how far he’ll be able to get with this volume, though.