To Be Filed: April 2008
The last week of every month marks the release of the new copy of Previews, or what I refer to as the retailer book of destiny. Why is this a book of destiny? Well simply put, Previews is a catalogue released by Diamond each month that lists all products available that can possibly ship to a retailer in a few months time. The following are what I feel to be some of the highlights (and lowlights) for product shipping in April 2008. My general impressions for April is that this month is very so-so. Nothing really stands out. Thats saying a lot for a month that see the shipping of Secret Invasion #1.
Remember advance ordering is your friend. Not only does it give you an idea of what your spending will be, it also gives you some insight into where your favourite titles are going and what new creative teams are starting. Most importantly, it helps guarantee that your local shop has what you want.
Dark horse
Pigeons from Hell With a title like this, you have to find this book someone what interesting. Let me reiterate the title its about Pigeons. From. Hell. think about it. The book is an adaption of a Robert E. Howard story, and as Dark Horse describes it, “At dusk, as the sun slumps below the horizon, scores of pigeons can be seen flocking from the house … the pigeons they say, are the souls of the damned, escaping from the bowels of hell itself”. Maybe its a metaphor, but I really hope not.
Grendel God and the Devil collection. This collects for the first time the story that I believe explains the rise of the ‘Grendel’ nation concept that populates the world of the Grendel Prime stories. Any event I’m excited to read more Grendel that hasn’t be collected. Grendel turning 25 is by far the best thing to happen to Grendel in the past 25 years.
DC
Black Adam :The Dark Age. Out of all the mini-series that came out of 52, this is the series that I have been most eagerly awaiting to read in a collection. The story of Black Adam has been one of the most engaging and pathos filled stories in the DCU.
Ex Machina HC. Brian K. Vaungh and Tony Harris is the four year story of Mayor Michael Hundred. The sole person in the world who has any kind of superhero, who after the events of 9/11 retired from active duty to pursue a career in politics. Part Starman in the reluncatency and unsureness of the protagonist and part West Wing for its political tappings, Ex Machina is a book well worth checking out. This hardcover will collect the first 11 issues of the series.
Marvel
Secret Invasion. Secret Invasion kicks off in the Marvel U. The sample pages provided doesn’t put much comfort in the story for me, but we’ll see how it goes. Yu’s art has been slipping and this story hasn’t captured me the same way as other marvel events have. Unlike Civil War and House of M, there was an actual build up to this story, and this could be my problem. If the lead up was shorter; ending when Spider-Woman running off with the body, and the start of this issue is, her giving the body to Stark, I’d be more significantly excited about this series. That being said, I’m going to probably still buy it, as bad as the Yu art it is still Yu art.
Ultimate Human. Much like the Ultimate Iron Man II HC, the release date of this HC is a really puzzling. Its coming out on the same day as the final issue you in the mini-series. I assume this is only because the Iron Man movie opens 3 days later. Still this sets an interesting precedent for comic collections. If this sells really well, will Marvel bump up there trade releases to being this much closer to the regular issues— which may, and will, effectively stop the single issue market from growing. Food for thought, thats for sure.
The rest
Glamourpuss. Say what you want about Dave Sim, the man and his politics his art is amazing. From the sample pages I’ve read, the story doesn’t seem that hot, but it doesn’t really matter as I’m buying this book purely for the eye candy. Sim’s political views/ramblings have sadly over shadowed how strong a penciller he is. Glamourpuss isn’t set to change this viewpoint that many people have about Sim. If you hate him, you’ll still hate him at the end of this story. But, man what beautiful line work.
Sample pages can be viewed here.
Local. The twelve issue miniseries resumes, after what feels like (and in reality was) a one year hiatus. I’ve been particularly impatient for this issue as it is set in Toronto. Much of this series has lost steam with me because of its very erratic publishing schedule. One day I’ll sit down and re-read this whole series and probably remember why I enjoyed it, but for now I’m buying it out of Canadian Pride and to complete the series.
X-O Manowar: Birth. I’m not a big X-O fan, but I’m excited to see more old-school valiant books get reprinted. Its interesting that they are printing the 0 issue in this collection which has radically different art from the rest of the issues in the book, and is also post-Shooter. Many people are going to be turned off by the Queseda art for 20 pages, and then Layton and Windsor Smith for the remaining 200 pages. A nice bonus feature to this collection is that it has some new story by Bob Layton.
