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Comic Previews Thoughts
A first impressions post for things seen in Comics Previews this week.
So many things announced, and I haven't even looked at the May Previews book itself yet (its running late. So there may or may not be a part 2.) The deepest thoughts are in the Marvel section which... isn't good, since I'm not super excited about basically any of it for Marvel. Which isn't to say there is nothing I'm excited for!
IDW:
BENEATH THE TREES WHERE NOBODY SEES SEQUEL ANNOUNCED! RITE OF SPRING IS GONNA BE A 6 ISSUE SERIES!!! One of my all time fave single volume stories, I am very interested in seeing how this sequel lines up. The story of later-developed forensics dredging up old murders really makes sense for a sequel, and provides a very different story to tell. Easily the number 1 new thing coming out this summer imo.
IDW is apparently launching a whole new Godzilla comicsverse. Which I'm interested in but why now? Godzilla crossovers have been EVERYWHERE recently, with multiple crossovers with seemingly any universe that is willing to give it a mini. Never cared for those 'Godzilla vs' titles but the recent Mothra mini has been enjoyable. My brother is a far bigger Godzilla guy than I am so I'm certainly not getting everything, but it's not detracting from the fun. Perhaps having its own universe will allow things to settle in nicely for me. Though the 'kid with Godzilla powers' could get annoying real fast.
A new hardcover, The Land of Unfinished Dreams, also caught my interest. I am a sucker for stories about stories (one of the reasons ORV is one of my all-time favorites) and the art is bouncy. Looks like fun. Only available in HC, though, even if its only 19.99. Its framed through a grandfather telling his grandkids stories but I'm unclear if it's actually a 'kids' book, y'know? Probably kid friendly, though.
Marvel:
Completely unsurprised that the Spider-Gwen series is coming to an end. I like her, and I didn't hate the series, but I still think moving her to 616 was a mistake. Part of the appeal of the character was that she WASN'T tied to 616 lore, leaving her freer to do other things and have other adventures. But the obsession with having every single Spider-verse character constantly be in contact with one another really hurts the Spider-characters as a whole. Disappointed but not surprised.
Chip Zdarsky is apparently heading a relaunch of the Captain America title, which I'm tentatively interested in; at minimum, art looks good, and Zdarsky can write good stories. But as someone who is not a Cap fan, I don't know if it'll hold my attention. The fact its ostensibly tied into the DOOM event going on, sort of, really inhibits its appeal and power. I guess it takes place in the past, since it talks about showing us Cap's first fight against Doom? Which may or may not be an excuse to have the story have no stakes in the current One World Under Doom event, which may be a blessing in disguise, as it may allow for an actually good story to be told. Also seems to be a really random relaunch! I get why they're relaunching the F4 in consideration for the movie release (while also releasing a tie-in comic to the movie. Okay. Don't know why we have to do both), but I am not fond of this strategy of Marvel's with constant relaunches. I know it's been beaten to death by fans, but I'm someone who likes miniseries! But when the miniseries just dovetail into each other as one continuity, it might as well just be a long series. Anyways, I don't know who Valerio Schiti (artist) is, but if the preview is an indicator of their skill, I may have to look into them more.
The "Bring On The Bad Guys" things seems a little late. Don't get me wrong, bad guy stories can be tons of fun, but it just seems... minor, considering that Dr. Doom is (supposedly) messing things up across the Marvel universe. What I would have done is have the 'Bring on the Bad Guys' thing be a semi-event happening in most books simultaneously, which then could have naturally dovetailed into the Doom stuff as the 'final bad guy', which would then more organically tie into the Doomsday tie-in/parallels that the DOOM event is supposed to be. It would have served a purpose, they could have kept the villain stories going for the ones that people liked, and the entire Doom event would feel less inexplicable.
Spider-Man vs Sinister Sixteen so close to the ASM relaunch? Which actually hasn't been terrible thus far (all two issues). It's WAAAAY too much too soon.
Still not interested in any X-Men books. Just can't get into them. I will grant that everyone's outfits on the cover of the Hellfire Vigil are great, but I wonder if they'll actually keep 'em for the story.
I worry that the new Spider-Girl is going to become the Kamala Khan, by which I mean a character they start shoving into EVERYTHING blindly. I still don't know why she got a solo series, and now she's going to be in New Champions, too. I don't hate her, but there just isn't anything to latch onto with her character or design. It's like they decided Spider-Boy wasn't becoming as popular as they wanted so they wanted to try again but GIRL. You know what would solve this... a new continuity with a new Spider-person, like Miles Morales or Spider-Gwen... oh wait, we moved them to 616 and now they're stuck with 616 rules. I remain bitter.
DC Comics:
From the other side of Superheros, New Gotham City Sirens miniseries, Unfit for Orbit, has Haining for the art, which immediately piques my interest, but the last few GSS series have been pretty mid. Undecided, but leaning toward a no from me.
This has nothing to do with the series itself, but the preview for Absolute Batman 10 has Bane redacted on the cover in a very silly way, with him replaced with text like a mid 2000's computer binary fill. Very funny to look at. And we've all seen the new Bane design anyway, so why did they do that?
While not addressed in the Preview, apparently the Absolute Martian Manhunter series is being extended? It's still a limited series, but I've heard it said it's now going to be a 12 issue series. Not sure if I like that. While I've been enjoying it, I'm worried about long-term running out of steam. It's hard to maintain this level of weird without it overstaying its welcome.
There's a lot of Superman titles because of the upcoming movie, and I'm not ashamed to say a few of them I actually want to try. Can they stop with the oversized comics, though, they're hard to store!
The Dark Tomorrow Special is bringing in some characters I like--and in general, I like how Booster Gold is getting to be important, for once!--but it seems like we're dovetailing really fast into yet another event. Can we even call the We Are Yesterday thing an event? It feels like it barely happened.
I don't know why the Flash story Bad Moon Rising is getting a special. It's a weird story arc altogether, but--why does it need a special? Why isn't it just in the original storyline as an issue? There's already TONS happening in the Flash book where the story is! Still unsure on how to feel about Spurrier. He gets weird which I like but he gets VERY involved in a way that may not translate well to mainstay superhero stories. His Hellblazer stuff worked because magic weirdness was Constantine's hat.
Speaking of Flash, there is a new kids graphic novel; Kid Flash: Going Rogue. It's a bit too young for me but the Flash completionist in me still kind of wants to pick it up, and it being for kids doesn't mean it won't be fun. The aged-down Rogue variants are a bit enh looking, though. Not iconic, to be kind.
Image:
The new series, Ghost Pepper, looks and sounds like a lot of fun! Supposed to be out July 16. The series only describes the deuteragonist, Ash, as having 'superhuman strength', but given that he has glowing red eyes and metal bits sticking out of his shoulder, I imagine there's more to it than that. Cyborg experiments? They do live in a world with robot 'protectors', it would fit. Quite excited for this one. It's also not listed as a limited series, which may mean nothing, but a girl can hope, right?
I, Tyrant didn't interest me on a visual level too much, but with a tagline like CREATION MYTHS NEED A DEVIL, and tagged with legends, mythology, and folk tales, I can't say no. July 30 is supposed to be the release date. Crossing fingers.
I keep telling myself I need to start picking up some of the Hyde Street stuff, but I'm so picky about horror that I never end up taking a chance.
The Unchosen by David Marquez is something that should be up my alley, and yet I can't muster any real desire to pick it up. Maybe its the combination of mysterious past + post apocalypse (which she caused, which is supposed to be a selling point but I just. Cannot get into.) It's def a me thing, but I might end up trying this one anyway because its kinda giving late 2000s comic to me, for some reason? It's only, like, 4 issues, so it's not some insurmountable pickup.
Aaaand those are my thoughts on the new stuff. A few things to get excited about, mostly indie things. I pick up a lot of indies in trade but I need to pick up more in floppy to support them from the very beginning, so I suppose its good that's the case here.
So many things announced, and I haven't even looked at the May Previews book itself yet (its running late. So there may or may not be a part 2.) The deepest thoughts are in the Marvel section which... isn't good, since I'm not super excited about basically any of it for Marvel. Which isn't to say there is nothing I'm excited for!
IDW:
BENEATH THE TREES WHERE NOBODY SEES SEQUEL ANNOUNCED! RITE OF SPRING IS GONNA BE A 6 ISSUE SERIES!!! One of my all time fave single volume stories, I am very interested in seeing how this sequel lines up. The story of later-developed forensics dredging up old murders really makes sense for a sequel, and provides a very different story to tell. Easily the number 1 new thing coming out this summer imo.
IDW is apparently launching a whole new Godzilla comicsverse. Which I'm interested in but why now? Godzilla crossovers have been EVERYWHERE recently, with multiple crossovers with seemingly any universe that is willing to give it a mini. Never cared for those 'Godzilla vs' titles but the recent Mothra mini has been enjoyable. My brother is a far bigger Godzilla guy than I am so I'm certainly not getting everything, but it's not detracting from the fun. Perhaps having its own universe will allow things to settle in nicely for me. Though the 'kid with Godzilla powers' could get annoying real fast.
A new hardcover, The Land of Unfinished Dreams, also caught my interest. I am a sucker for stories about stories (one of the reasons ORV is one of my all-time favorites) and the art is bouncy. Looks like fun. Only available in HC, though, even if its only 19.99. Its framed through a grandfather telling his grandkids stories but I'm unclear if it's actually a 'kids' book, y'know? Probably kid friendly, though.
Marvel:
Completely unsurprised that the Spider-Gwen series is coming to an end. I like her, and I didn't hate the series, but I still think moving her to 616 was a mistake. Part of the appeal of the character was that she WASN'T tied to 616 lore, leaving her freer to do other things and have other adventures. But the obsession with having every single Spider-verse character constantly be in contact with one another really hurts the Spider-characters as a whole. Disappointed but not surprised.
Chip Zdarsky is apparently heading a relaunch of the Captain America title, which I'm tentatively interested in; at minimum, art looks good, and Zdarsky can write good stories. But as someone who is not a Cap fan, I don't know if it'll hold my attention. The fact its ostensibly tied into the DOOM event going on, sort of, really inhibits its appeal and power. I guess it takes place in the past, since it talks about showing us Cap's first fight against Doom? Which may or may not be an excuse to have the story have no stakes in the current One World Under Doom event, which may be a blessing in disguise, as it may allow for an actually good story to be told. Also seems to be a really random relaunch! I get why they're relaunching the F4 in consideration for the movie release (while also releasing a tie-in comic to the movie. Okay. Don't know why we have to do both), but I am not fond of this strategy of Marvel's with constant relaunches. I know it's been beaten to death by fans, but I'm someone who likes miniseries! But when the miniseries just dovetail into each other as one continuity, it might as well just be a long series. Anyways, I don't know who Valerio Schiti (artist) is, but if the preview is an indicator of their skill, I may have to look into them more.
The "Bring On The Bad Guys" things seems a little late. Don't get me wrong, bad guy stories can be tons of fun, but it just seems... minor, considering that Dr. Doom is (supposedly) messing things up across the Marvel universe. What I would have done is have the 'Bring on the Bad Guys' thing be a semi-event happening in most books simultaneously, which then could have naturally dovetailed into the Doom stuff as the 'final bad guy', which would then more organically tie into the Doomsday tie-in/parallels that the DOOM event is supposed to be. It would have served a purpose, they could have kept the villain stories going for the ones that people liked, and the entire Doom event would feel less inexplicable.
Spider-Man vs Sinister Sixteen so close to the ASM relaunch? Which actually hasn't been terrible thus far (all two issues). It's WAAAAY too much too soon.
Still not interested in any X-Men books. Just can't get into them. I will grant that everyone's outfits on the cover of the Hellfire Vigil are great, but I wonder if they'll actually keep 'em for the story.
I worry that the new Spider-Girl is going to become the Kamala Khan, by which I mean a character they start shoving into EVERYTHING blindly. I still don't know why she got a solo series, and now she's going to be in New Champions, too. I don't hate her, but there just isn't anything to latch onto with her character or design. It's like they decided Spider-Boy wasn't becoming as popular as they wanted so they wanted to try again but GIRL. You know what would solve this... a new continuity with a new Spider-person, like Miles Morales or Spider-Gwen... oh wait, we moved them to 616 and now they're stuck with 616 rules. I remain bitter.
DC Comics:
From the other side of Superheros, New Gotham City Sirens miniseries, Unfit for Orbit, has Haining for the art, which immediately piques my interest, but the last few GSS series have been pretty mid. Undecided, but leaning toward a no from me.
This has nothing to do with the series itself, but the preview for Absolute Batman 10 has Bane redacted on the cover in a very silly way, with him replaced with text like a mid 2000's computer binary fill. Very funny to look at. And we've all seen the new Bane design anyway, so why did they do that?
While not addressed in the Preview, apparently the Absolute Martian Manhunter series is being extended? It's still a limited series, but I've heard it said it's now going to be a 12 issue series. Not sure if I like that. While I've been enjoying it, I'm worried about long-term running out of steam. It's hard to maintain this level of weird without it overstaying its welcome.
There's a lot of Superman titles because of the upcoming movie, and I'm not ashamed to say a few of them I actually want to try. Can they stop with the oversized comics, though, they're hard to store!
The Dark Tomorrow Special is bringing in some characters I like--and in general, I like how Booster Gold is getting to be important, for once!--but it seems like we're dovetailing really fast into yet another event. Can we even call the We Are Yesterday thing an event? It feels like it barely happened.
I don't know why the Flash story Bad Moon Rising is getting a special. It's a weird story arc altogether, but--why does it need a special? Why isn't it just in the original storyline as an issue? There's already TONS happening in the Flash book where the story is! Still unsure on how to feel about Spurrier. He gets weird which I like but he gets VERY involved in a way that may not translate well to mainstay superhero stories. His Hellblazer stuff worked because magic weirdness was Constantine's hat.
Speaking of Flash, there is a new kids graphic novel; Kid Flash: Going Rogue. It's a bit too young for me but the Flash completionist in me still kind of wants to pick it up, and it being for kids doesn't mean it won't be fun. The aged-down Rogue variants are a bit enh looking, though. Not iconic, to be kind.
Image:
The new series, Ghost Pepper, looks and sounds like a lot of fun! Supposed to be out July 16. The series only describes the deuteragonist, Ash, as having 'superhuman strength', but given that he has glowing red eyes and metal bits sticking out of his shoulder, I imagine there's more to it than that. Cyborg experiments? They do live in a world with robot 'protectors', it would fit. Quite excited for this one. It's also not listed as a limited series, which may mean nothing, but a girl can hope, right?
I, Tyrant didn't interest me on a visual level too much, but with a tagline like CREATION MYTHS NEED A DEVIL, and tagged with legends, mythology, and folk tales, I can't say no. July 30 is supposed to be the release date. Crossing fingers.
I keep telling myself I need to start picking up some of the Hyde Street stuff, but I'm so picky about horror that I never end up taking a chance.
The Unchosen by David Marquez is something that should be up my alley, and yet I can't muster any real desire to pick it up. Maybe its the combination of mysterious past + post apocalypse (which she caused, which is supposed to be a selling point but I just. Cannot get into.) It's def a me thing, but I might end up trying this one anyway because its kinda giving late 2000s comic to me, for some reason? It's only, like, 4 issues, so it's not some insurmountable pickup.
Aaaand those are my thoughts on the new stuff. A few things to get excited about, mostly indie things. I pick up a lot of indies in trade but I need to pick up more in floppy to support them from the very beginning, so I suppose its good that's the case here.