Image Previews Picks: September 2013

We’ve got several new #1’s premiering this month: four ongoing titles and two one-shots. There’s one more if you count Howard Chaykin’s “Century West” graphic novel as one too. Speculators should take note that two of the ongoing titles are marked as “Gems of the Month” and are coming from established creators. I imagine that’s what warrants their status as such, and they certainly sound like the more interesting of the four. After all, one sounds like a raucous fantasy comic in the vein of “Skullkickers” and the other… has a premise that I’m surprised to not have seen in hentai manga yet.

Sex Crimes #1: From Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky, it’s about a couple who has the ability to stop time when they have sex. What do they use this power for? CRIME! Robbing banks is specifically mentioned here. It’s certainly an imaginative premise that I’m surprised to not have come across in any of the hentai manga I’ve read. After all, most of those stories involve either the guy (occasionally the girl) stopping time and… well, there’s a chance that this premise may have been done before in Japan, but I’ve just been reading the wrong comics. Anyway, it sounds great and if it does take place in a superhero universe I look forward to seeing ersatz versions of Batman and Superman showing up to try and stop them.

Rat Queens #1: It’s a fantasy series featuring Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Hobbit Thief. Those descriptions alone are almost enough to get me to pick this up. The writer, Kurtis Wiebe, is still something of an unknown quantity in my book as “Debris” was a good start for a series that didn’t go on long enough to fulfill its potential. His signature series at the moment appears to be “Peter Panzerfaust” which continues to rack up sales even if I think the idea of a series crossing “Peter Pan” with WWII is a little silly. Then again I like “Wolverine and the X-Men” and it is VERY silly, so I should probably check that series out at some point.

Carbon Grey vol. 2: Daughters of Stone: The first volume was a case of the creators’ reach exceeding their grasp with some art that ranged from astonishing to shockingly unfinished. Am I willing to pay full price for this second volume? Not really. Unless it’s a slow week I think I’ll be waiting until I see it at a deep discount before I see if they managed to fix the issues or if we’re getting more of the same here.

Five Weapons: Making the Grade: Creator Jimmie Robinson has been best known for his T&A series “Bomb Queen,” but he takes a different tact here. “Five Weapons” is the story of Tyler, the son of a legendary hitman who finds himself enrolled in a school that’s like Hogwarts for budding assassins. The catch: he’s a pacifist. However, his weapon of choice is his mind which gives the impression that this series will be about the kid finding lateral solutions to problems involving brute force. I like that idea, so I’m hoping it’ll delivered upon in the collection — or at least subvert my expectations in an entertaining fashion. Speaking of people who specialize in creative, non-violent solutions to problems…

MacGyver: Fugitive Gauntlet: The series came and went with little fanfare, but I don’t care. “MacGyver” was a fundamental part of my childhood and I’m going to pick this up to see if it manages to capture even a bit of the magic of the TV show. At the very least, it’s a cheaper way of reliving my childhood than buying Legos. Those things can get expensive!

The Walking Dead vol. 1: Spanish Language Edition: In case you needed further proof of how much of a juggernaut this title is; well, here you go. “The Walking Dead 100 Project,” featuring 100 all new covers from series artist Charlie Adlard and many more also ships this month, so there’s that too.

Morning Glories #31 & 32: Uh, okay. But given that this title has had a fairly erratic shipping schedule over the last year, you’d think they’d want to save one of these issues for a rainy day when things get tight. Have people learned nothing from seeing what has happened to Bendis & Oeming’s “Powers” over the years? Anyway, this may fall through so we’ll see.