To Be Filed: May 2008

May fairs as a better month then April, as publishers release more books that are either preludes to the summer block busters, revisiting past ones, or just taking a plain risk. All of these items of note here are based on the Diamond Preview catalogue for May that came out this past March. Remember, advance ordering is your friend, as it guarantees that what you want will be in stock when the time comes.

Dark Horse

Umbrella Academy
The surprise hit of 2007 gets collected by Dark Horse. This is also known as the ‘book written by the lead singer of My Chemical Romance’. While this claim to the book was a a major draw for some, it also act as a major deterrent for others, such as myself. Somehow though, this book managed to get in all the right peoples hand’s for me to actually be curious about it. Almost everyone whose opinion I respect on books like this have been praising this. From the description, I gather that the book focuses on a broken adoptive family of powered beings, who are reunited when their father unexpectedly dies. The cover image for this collection is striking, and reminds me of why I like Gabriel Ba.

DC

DC Universe: Zero
Another 50 cent book, and another ‘the DCU starts here’ story. Rumor has it that this book was created to bridge the gap between Countdown and Final Crisis, as Grant Morrison’s forthcoming epic didn’t exactly connect all that well to what Dini was setting up in Countdown. This book has been ‘retro-solicited’ for April 30, which with the book have seven artists listed for 32 pages, doesn’t make me feel all that comfortable in what the result will be. But for 50 cents, its worth the risk– I’ve spent more money on books that I was taking a similar chance on.

Batman: Gotham After Midnight
Next to Jim Aparo and Neal Adams, I think one of the best Batman artists have been Kelly Jones, because like Aparo and Adams, Jones brought a distinctive look to his Batman which has become associated with a specific period of the title. Reading that he is back on Batman, made my fanboy heart flutter, then reading then next line how this is the first issue of a twelve issue miniseries is made my heart drop just as quickly. I’m not sure what the logic behind such long term miniseries are– its a long term commitment for both readers, retailers and DC to be doing these books. If they series isn’t selling, DC is essentially committed to publishing the series for the year, readers are buying what turns out to be another ‘regular’ title, which again they may drop. 12 issue mini’s should be reserved for guaranteed sales and creative teams. This is not a team to sustain an audience for 12 issues. Clearly, I’m a pessimist today.

Lost boys reign of frogs
I’ve never watched the movie, and thus am probably one of the worst people to talk about this title. The concept of the Lost Boys though, does sound like one that can carry a miniseries, if not a regular series. This mini is supposed to bridge the gap between the first movie, and the new one coming out. While not top sellers, the Wildstorm horror license from what I’ve heard has been doing a good job with the properties that they adapt. If you a fan of the Lost Boys, this might be worth a look.

House of Mystery
A return to the house that Joe Orlando built. The new House of Mystery series will be using a framing device of a group of stranded travelers, telling stories with each other to pass time as they try and find a way to escape the house. Some of my favourite Vertigo books was the World’s End run in Sandman, which featured a similar framing device. Anthologies series of this type tend to not fair well, as they don’t provide any hook for readers to come back month to month. If DC wants this new attempt to survive, they will be best served by ensuring that the creative team, Bill Willingham(Fables) and Matt Sturges, spends several pages exploring the framing device in each issue.

Demo
Demo was a series of standalone single issues from a couple years back by Brian Wood (DMZ) and Becky Cloonan (American Virgin). With this series continuing under the DC:Vertigo imprint, it makes sense that Vertigo will be issuing a new edition is being released. The original collection was put out by AIT/PlanetLar, and really showcased both members of the creative teams skills, Wood showing his ability to make compelling done-in-one stories, while Cloonan showed her competence in many styles of comic art. Perhaps the best story the two of them accomplish is the ‘Mix Tape’ issue, which has struck a cord with a wide range of readers. If you like non-obvious superpower stories with a strong indie sensibility, check this collection out.

Marvel

Sky Doll
Marvel reprinting European comics for American audiences? Its an interesting move as Marvel continues to slowly expand the variety of their print output with their new Soleil line. The sample art is fun, and if your not a fan of European styled comics, then its probably worth a flip through when it comes out. My understanding is that Marvel, is planning on releasing all the work under this Soleil line as miniseries, then collecting them at a later date (much like they do with all their output), which is a bit weird, as these books were originally published as graphic novels. For the audience of these books, it would be better suited to keep these stories in their graphic novel format.

1985
The long awaited project from Mark Millar finally comes out. Originally rumored to be a fumetti book, the book appears now to be done entirely as a traditional comic. The added surprise is that 1985, is in reference to the year that the first major Marvel miniseries, Secret Wars. The story focuses on a young boy from our Earth, who is the only one who can save the day when the villains from Secret War invade. The art is done by Tommy Lee Edwards, which is great as he is a talent definitely deserving more recognition. Is this the book that will give him the acknowledgement that he deserves? Maybe, but I have a feeling its going to get lost in the Secret Invasion hype that is going around it, which is a shame.

The Rest

Judenhass
Another book by Dave Sim (Cerebus), and perhaps what may turn out to be his next biggest contributions to comics. Using his photorealistic style and excerpts from various sources on the events of the Holocaust, Sim has crafted. what can best be described as a photojournalistic account of the event. I’ve saw the pencils of some of these pages last year when he was at a local show, and they blew me out of the water. I was recently given the retailer preview copy as a birthday gift, and I look forward to finding some time to really digest it. An online preview can be seen here.