To Be Filed: June 2008

In general you can tell that June is the start of summer, as a lot of projects and big releases are coming out form the major and not-so major publishers. Both major publishers have their company wide events in full swing, while, the other publishers are releasing This month I’m going to try a different take to on the to be filed column. Instead of highlighting individuals book, I’m going to instead take a more editorial view of things were appropriate. If there anything on here that looks interesting to you, remember to let your local comic shop know by the end of the month so they can order it for you.

So with all of this in mind, skitter patter, let’s get at ‘er.

Dark horse

Dark Horse made its mark and early dollars with high quality books based on licensed properties. While Dark Horse has tried to expand itself into original material (World’s Greatest Heroes) and hosting some creator owned books (Hellboy, Sin City and Grendel) , their bread and butter has always been the licensed properties. Looking at their output for June, one can’t help but be reminded of this. We have a new issue of Buffy, we have various Star Wars books, and a specially priced($0.99) relaunch of the Conan series with, Conan the Cimmerian #0. Dark Horse also forays into new Indiana Jones territory this month with the start of their Indiana Jones and the Tomb of The Gods mini-series. Nothing ground breaking, but you know they are going to be solid books.

DC

I’m not sure what to make out of DC these days. I’m a die hard fan of DC, and will always support them, but they seem to be in beyond overdrive mode when it comes to their ‘event’ output lately, and this month really highlights it. First off before talking about the new event-series that launch this month at DC, lets consider what they have in-progress:

• They have Final Crisis continuing with its second issue
• A DC/Wildstorm universe cross over, which could have been major event 10 years ago, but now, if anything, marks how far Wildstorm has fallen.
• The Tangent miniseries, Superman’s Reign running, which again, could have been a major event if they wanted it to be.

And what do they do this month? They launch the Reign in Hell miniseries, and Trinity, the next DC weekly book.

Really, do they need all of this right now? Do they need to launch ANOTHER weekly book so soon? Could they wait till the end of Final Crisis, let the taste of Countdown get out of our mouths, and use Trinity to serve the same purpose of 52? Let Trinity, like 52, be an epilogue to the crisis and a love letter to the DCU. It almost as if they are publishing things with the intent of them being lost and ignored.

This feeling of publishing books to be lost, is exemplified by the relaunching of Manhunter. Perhaps the best title you never read, Manhunter resumes publication, not with a new first issue, but with a new thirty-first issue. Let me repeat that, a book that has been on the chopping block numerous times for low sales, is coming back after a year break, not with a #1 issue, but a #31. I can understand the desire to keep the original numbering, and it would make more sense if the series had only been on hiatus for three to four months. Being on hiatus for about a year, and coming out in the midst of all the above mention events, the books needs a #1 style launch to capture any possible new audiences. The creative team of Gaydos and Andreyko will not guarantee the book to light up sales charts. If you loved the Jack Knight Starman, then you owe it to yourself to read this book.

There are also a couple of interesting trades coming out from DC this month. In the ‘I’ never thought they’d collect it’ department, a collection of Going Sane is being released. Going Sane was a four issue Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight story arc from about 15 years ago. Written by J.M. DeMatteis the arc explored what would happen to the Joker if he overcame his biggest challenge, Batman. Early on in the story he seemingly defeats Batman, and a result the Joker finds himself slowly going sane.

And the trade that frustrates me to no end for this month is… The New York Four by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly, the team that worked on the Oni press maxi-series, Local. I love Local, and readers of this column know that I get excited every time an issue ships– the only thing that has bother me about the series, that it was supposed to be done in one year, and due to various unnamed delays, the series is finally finishing after three years. So why did it take so long for Local to finish? Well the fact that this is coming out so soon after the end of Local is probably the biggest reason. I’m all for indie artists doing work for a big pay day, but when you delay a book by over two years because of said big pay day, that bothers me. Something about art, integrity, and economics would probably best said here. I admit I could be wrong about the delays, but thats what it looks like to me.

Image

Image has a little bit of a more quiet month, as they release a new mini-series entitled War Heroes, which banks on its creative teams name star power, and I’m alright with this as those creators are Mark Millar and Tony Harris. While the story doesn’t seem like anything new (US Army makes super powered soldiers, hilarity ensues), it’s the art that has me interested. The preview pencils are really, really pretty. It makes me wish the box was done in just pencils– no inks, no colours, just highly quality reproduced graphite.

Also being released this month is a softcover and hardcover collection of the entire Scud the Disposable Assassin series. The 13 year old in me is really excited for the chance to read this, and the 27 year old is a bit hesitant about it. Will this series live to the hype that others have given this book over the past 15 years? Or will it just come off as another ‘I’m black and white and heavily inked and filled with slacker-humor book’? I’m not sure, but the 20 year old in me has made a compromise with the 13 and 27 year old, to at least give this collection a chance. So even if I am ultimately disappointed in this book, it won’t be from lack of trying.

Marvel

Secret Invasion chugs along with over 10 tie in books this month, with the series still being pretty young, it’s hard to tell if these books will be required reading or just auxiliary like much of Civil War titled books were. Speaking of Civil War, the creative team from that series is back this month with a stint in the monthly Wolverine book called: Old Man Logan. Think Dark Knight Returns meets Wolverine.

Speaking of Marvel events (if only tangentially at this point), the final spin-off book from World War Hulk, Skarr: Son of Hulk launches this month. World War Hulk had it’s moments, and ultimately told more about the state of Marvel editorial, or the direction they were not willing to take the Hulk, then it did about the actual plot. I wonder, if anyone even cares about Skaar? This book may have been better suited spinning out of Nova or some other Annihilation-event like story.

With the release of Ultimate Origins #1, readers are promised that the threads of the tight-knit Ultimate universe are going to be explored. This series is to lead into the Ultimatum, the first cross-over for the line, which to me, despite the great wordplay in the title, is a bit disappointing to see happening. The whole line has had a good philosophy of of being small and controlled; three regular series at a time, and one miniseries max. And for the most part this plan has worked. Each title has a distinct tone, and with the exception of the occasionally referenced event, the stories are self-contained. It’ll be interesting to see how much of the line philosophy changes after the cross-over.

What If? – The Fantastic Four Tribute to Mike Wieringo, while not technically a Marvel book (in reality it’s being published by the HERO Initiative), this completes the unfinished What If story that Wieringo was working on at the time of his death. To complete the story about the New Fantastic Four (a short lived joke team of Ghost Rider, Wolverine, Spider-Man and the Gray ‘Mr. Fix-it’ Hulk), a variety of artist help complete the art chores on the book. As an added bonus (if you want to calls it that), other lend there talents for a tribute section to the man and his work. And in case I didn’t mention it yet, it’s the NEW Fantastic Four, my inner 12 year old is excited by that alone.

The Rest

Oni Press makes a single collection of all the Barry Ween: Boy-Genius series. This series is notable as it’s the first published works by Judd Winick, who did both the writing and art chores of the series. So why should you care about this collection? Barry, is a f-bomb dropping ten year old who also happens to be the brightest boy in the universe. And like most genius his plans are addled by his friendships. For example, Jeremy, his best friend, often misuse Barry’s work, which leads to situations that may induce pant-wetting in some. I remember having this once described to me as Calvin and Hobbes hopped up on PCP, and I think I agree with this. A 25 page preview can be found here.