If
you don’t know, Previews
is the catalogue that Diamond Comic Distributors use to offer the
products they distribute to comic book stores around the country.
This is where you can view and order (through your favorite Local
Comic Book Shop) comic books, trade paperback collections, t-shirts,
books, media, and toys and other collectibles from hundreds of
different vendors that deal in geek-oriented merchandise. The genius
part is that you actually have to pay for your copy of Previews
for the privilege of ordering other things to pay for. It’s like
the Ren Fest except without the horse poo smell.
So
every month a new edition of Previews
is sent out to comic book stores. Contained in the pages within are
products that might be currently available or could be released
anytime in the next year; but typically about two months away. Or
sometimes never. I’ve ordered lots
of things that have just never come in. Without getting into the
specific politics of Diamond, let me just say that they aren’t
quite
a monopoly and also aren’t quite
the worst distributor anybody has ever dealt with in the history of
the universe.
Batvergence
– DC (Back Cover)
That’s
Earth One Batman (Bruce Wayne) in the back and Earth-2 Batman (Thomas
Wayne, Bruce’s father) in the foreground. A meeting between the two
should
be very interesting and the source of all kinds of emotional
upheaval. In the right hands it could be a landmark Batman story,
regardless of its place in continuity.
In
the wrong hands it could consist of two Batmans punching and yelling
at each other.
A-Force
– Marvel (Front Cover)
I
will always
be suspicious of books from the Big Two that are “Look at all of
these non-white/male/hetero characters!”. It’s not that I have
anything against such books, I just tend to doubt the motives behind
them. No matter how you want to spin it, it is very
hip right now to support anything that isn’t non-white/male/hetero
and the publishers know this.
Women in comics is a particularly big
thing, so A-Force
definitely draws my suspicion.
However.
Marvel
is actually using female creators on this title (which to me is the
real
issue – giving more females a chance to gain a following will
naturally lead to more diversity in the characters and stories), so
it seems like a genuine effort to give women a chance. The creators –
G. Willow Wilson and Marguerite Bennett, neither of which I am
familiar with – seem to have access to all of Marvel’s top female
characters in this title, so now it’s up to them to tell great
stories and gain that following that will lead to more power and
influence in the world of comics.
Theoretically,
anyway.
Free
Comic Book Day 2015! (27 - 37)
Free
Comic Book Day falls on May 2nd
this year. I’m working with no way out. But that doesn’t mean
that I won’t be doing something special for the event. I’ve
already lined up a special guest for the podcast. More to come soon!
Fight
Club 2 – Dark Horse (42 - 43)
Chuck
Palahniuk is one of my favorite authors (except for Pygmy,
which was a brilliant concept that I found unreadable) and Cameron
Stewart is an artist that I will always check out – one of those
names that I just have to follow. If not for their involvement I
probably wouldn’t pick this up because we all know how media
tie-ins often turn out.
Of
course, considering that this is the original author continuing his
own novel in a different form I suppose it isn’t really a media
tie-in. It’s a proper sequel.
Predator:
Fire and Stone TPB – Dark Horse (61)
Like
I said last
month,
I only got the Prometheus
and Alien
Fire and
Stone
books. Those were great, and now I have the concluding comic book
that ties them all together – Fire
and Stone: Omega
– sitting at home waiting to be read. I got through the first few
pages before realizing that I really needed to read the rest of the
series before I read it. The way the four narratives appear to be
tied together is very cool and a great example of how tie-ins should
be done. I don’t feel like I have
to buy the rest of the books, but the story is so good that I want
to.
Criminal
Macabre: Cal McDonald Bust – Dark Horse (78)
Cal
McDonald is my favorite Steve Niles creation. The comics have the
right tone for me and hit all the right supernatural/weird shit sweet
spots. And this is a beautiful statue. I’d love to have it. I just
am not that big of a statue guy (though I do have some) and don’t
want to spend this much. I’m not saying that it isn’t worth it,.
It totally is. As a matter of fact, I feel like $150 is great for a
14” piece like this.
Convergence
– DC Comics (81 - 123)
DC’s
big event is still going on. I don’t have much more to say about it
now than I did last month. Without having read any of the books all I
can say is I’m looking forward to it.
It’s
worth noting that each issue solicitation carries this disclaimer:
“This
extra-sized issue includes a sneak peek at what’s coming up in the
DC Universe!”
It
looks like every single issue this month has a cover price of $3.99,
which means that DC is essentially charging us extra to advertise to
us, because I have a pretty good feeling that every single one of
these “extra-sized” issues will have the exact same few pages of
tripe in the back promoting the new DC paradigm. Dick move, DC. Way
to hold the line (at $2.99).
Black
Canary and Zatanna: Bloodspell TP – DC Comics (127)
I
bought the hardcover of Bloodspell
when it was offered and it absolutely delighted me. It’s a fun
story with two characters that play very well off of one another. I’d
love to see more standalone stories like this from Dini. Joe Quinones
art is, as always, fantastic. I highly recommend this one. It’s a
fun, classic adventure comic.
He-Man:
The Eternity War #6 – DC Comics (127)
I
bought the first issue of this series just to have the variant cover
by Darwyn Cooke. I can’t imagine I’ll have too many opportunities
to buy Cooke’s interpretations of the Masters of the Universe. I
didn’t enjoy DC’s first Masters
miniseries and I haven’t checked back in with their handling of the
license, despite Mr. Beau Brown’s assurances that they’ve been
telling good stories.
Since
I can’t let a comic book with He-Man on the cover go unread in my
home, I cracked open that first issue. The story was cool. He-Man is
He-Man and She-Ra is She-Ra and Teela is a Snake Goddess who controls
all of the Snake Men.
Wait…
what?
Yeah
– things are very different. The
Eternity War
takes place in the future of Eternia (though I don’t know if it
directly related to the events of the former ongoing series) and I
immediately dug the scenario. There were a few little character
things that I didn’t like – She-Ra at one point says something to
the effect of “Sometimes all you have left is rage, and that’s
enough”, which is so incredibly un-She-Ra that I can’t even
believe it made it into the book. I’m also not crazy about the way
Duncan and Teela’s relationship was handled. But now I’m curious
and I want to check out the other books.
Astro
City #23 – Vertigo (140)
I’ve
never read any of Kurt Busiek’s Astro
City
and I probably won’t, but I love this cover.
The
Wake TP – Vertigo (147)
I
don’t want to spoil the major narrative shift that occurs in this
book, but it delighted me. For those of you that don’t want
anything spoiled and take my recommendations seriously, just buy
this.
For
those of you that need a little bit more than just me saying it’s
awesome:
***SPOILERS***
Imagine
if Leviathan
or Deep
Star Six
or any of those great, old undersea horror flicks evolved into a
well-done version of Waterworld.
That’s what this is. I loved it.
***END
OF SPOILERS***
Arkham
Batman Action Figure 5-Pack – DC Collectibles (151)
I’d
love to have that Bruce Wayne, but I already own two of those Batmans
and have the Arkham
Knight
version ordered. The $85 price tag actually isn’t bad, as it works
out to about $17 per figure. But I just don’t need all of those
extra Batmans. And no – I don’t want to deal with the hassle of
putting them on eBay. Especially when that’s exactly what most
other people that buy this set will be trying to do.
If
DCC doesn’t release a different version of Bruce in some other form
I can just live without him.
The
Flash Reverse Flash Ring – DC Collectibles (153)
Another
ingenious prop replica from DCC. We saw this very ring (well, the
prop version) on Professor Well’s finger just a few episodes ago on
The
Flash.
This thing looks great and I’m sure it will be popular at that
attractive $34.95 price point. Be warned – it only comes in one
size – 12.5. I don’t know a thing about ring sizes, so I don’t
know if that’s average or what.
Dirk
Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency #1 – IDW (161)
I
am not generally in favor of other people writing Douglas Adams’
characters. I don’t even know that it has happened before, but it
just sounds like a bad idea. Adams is another one of my favorite
authors and it makes me profoundly uncomfortable to think about
somebody else handling his creations, especially Gently, who is such
a unique and specific character.
“But
Phantom, I follow you on Facebook
and Twitter
and I specifically remember you talking about how good Gareth
Roberts’ adaptation of Shada
was. What about that?”
Well,
devoted Phantomaniac, You’re right. Gareth Roberts’ adaptation of
Shada
was very good. So good that I recommend you buy it right now:
But
that was a Doctor
Who
story and Adams didn’t create those characters. Different thing
entirely.
“Oh,
good point. I’ll go and buy a copy of that now and help out
Needless Things.”
Great
– thanks!
Secret
Wars – Marvel (M1 - 40)
I
can’t even begin to understand what’s supposed to be going on
here. I suppose whatever the big event is, it has been led up to in
Marvel books that I don’t read. But the good thing is that – like
DC’s Convergence
– I don’t think you have to know about any of that to enjoy it.
But it does look like Marvel is trying a little harder to create that
“Well, I guess I have
to read this other thing” vibe.
Like
I did with Convergence
in last month’s article, I’ll run down the list of Secret
Wars
titles I’m planning to pick up. Most of these will be based upon
creators and characters I like and not any attachment I expect them
to have to books that I am currently reading (I opted for ten DC
books, so it’ll be interesting to see how many Marvel can push on
me):
*Deadpool’s
Secret Wars
– Cullen Bunn is becoming one of those writers that I trust enough
to just buy his stuff. And look at that gorgeous cover by Tony
Harris! If you’re not following him on Instagram,
you should be. He posted pictures of this cover in progress as he was
working on it and he does that for tons
of cool stuff.
*Inferno
– The original Inferno
is one of my favorite storylines of all time. I
even wrote about it.
(I made a note to fix that post – I hope I remember to do it)I like
Dennis Hopeless, but I’m buying this because I love Inferno.
As a matter of fact, to call back to my statue comments above, I even
bought and reviewed a statue
of Magik as Darkchilde.
*Secret
Wars 2099
– I never got into the 2099
books. But this is by Peter David – possibly my favorite comic book
writer of all time – and it appears that his recent All-New
X-Factor
was leading up to whatever is happening here. At least, I hope so.
But either way it’s Peter David and I’m buying it.
Whoa.
Three titles. I wasn’t expecting that. I guess I just don’t care
too much about this thing. Of course, the major difference here is
that Marvel is continuing all of its regular titles while Secret
Wars is
going on, so perhaps I’m being a little pickier about what I get
since I still have my regular books to pick up.
Superior
Iron Man #9 – Marvel (M73)
I’m
not reading this one, but that is an excellent picture of Pepper in
her Rescue armor. I’m still shocked that Marvel hasn’t ever
launched a Rescue ongoing title.
Marvel
Select Zombie Sabretooth – Diamond Select (M98)
I
love that they’re finally expanding on the collection of Marvel
Zombies action figures. The first few series of the comic book were
excellent and I’ve wanted more than the original three figures
since getting them. The newer ones – Magneto and this month’s
Sabretooth, so far – have better articulation but still fit with
the original Cap, Spidey, and Hulk.
Marvel
Firsts: The 1990s Omnibus – Marvel (M101)
What
a rad collection! The nostalgia will be thick in this one, as it
collects the first appearances of a ton of the superheroes that made
90s comic books so… 90s. Deadpool, Nomad, X-Force, Scarlet Spider,
Venom, and a bunch of others that were revived for the 90s (wait –
wasn;t Nomad around long before then?). I won’t buy this, but it
would definitely be a fun read. Thunderstrike!
Yeesh…
Providence
– Avatar Press (274 - 277)
The
listing for this new ongoing series is prefaced by two pages of words
from Alan Moore. I felt that if Alan Moore felt that it was worth
writing two pages worth of copy for Previews then I should probably
read it:
It’s
a good read and talks about Moore and Jacen Burrows’ new project,
Providence.
To sum it up, it sounds like they are intending on streamlining all
of H.P. Lovecraft’s ideas and works into a cohesive whole. I’m
into that.
Of
course, that means that I also need to pick up
Neonomicon
TPB – Avatar Press (278)
This
is a related collection that also has Moore and Burrows adapting
Lovecraft. I don’t know if the narratives are directly tied
together or if there are just thematic similarities, but reading
those two pages from Moore has me wanting to check this stuff out. He
seems genuinely enthusiastic for the material and I would love a
modernized take on Lovecraft. Because I don’t think we’re going
to see At
the Mountains of Madness
anytime soon.
Annihilator
Volume 1 HC – Legendary Comics (360)
I’ve
been reading this one and as much as I do like Grant Morrison’s
wild, story-within-a-story head trip, Frazer Irving’s incredible
artwork is the star. The narrative of a criminal from outer space
needing a Terran screenwriter to tell his tale so that he can
remember it is a great framework for a lot of drama and weird science
fiction, but Irving’s pages are amazing. This is one of those
titles where I really stop and drink in every panel. I’d love to
have some original art from this one.
Side
Note: I don’t care for Diamond’s habit of sprinkling ads for the
bigger publishers’ and vendors’ products throughout the Green
Section. Everyone
is going to look at the big publishers and the toys and merchandise
sections. Nobody skips those. We don’t need hem undermining the
message of the independent publishers. Maybe that sounds nitpicky or
ridiculous, but I really do feel like the full-page ads for Marvel
and IDW and DC products take away from the Green Section’s
inhabitants.
Cheap
Sales Tactic – Space Goat Productions (379)
HAHAHA.
No, Space Goat Productions. I am not going to buy two comic books
that I have no interest in just to get the six page prequel to your
upcoming Officially-Licensed Evil
Dead 2
comic book. They might be super comic books. I’m not commenting on
their quality. I just don’t care for the method of using one of my
all-time favorite movies to push them when they are utterly
unrelated.
S.H.I.E.L.D./Hydra
Flex Fit Caps – Some Hat Company (450)
Flex
Fit caps are the only kind I can wear. I don’t like snapback caps,
as I think they look trashy. I don’t like regular fitted caps
because apparently there are days where my head is bigger than other
days. So Flex Fit is it for me. But it has to be a L/XL. And this
does not have a size listing, so I’m guessing these are M/L,
because the Man caters to all of you pinheaded fools with craniums
too small to contain massive brains like mine.
Doctor
Strange: Mythic Awareness T-Shirt – Some Shirt Company (450)
This
is just a really cool shirt design.
Doctor
Who: The Seal of Rassilon Ring – British Jeweler (459)
I
need
this ring. Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, I have no idea how
ring sizes work.
This is only available as a 10.
This
makes twice in a single post that I’ve had to think about ring
sizes. Weird.
One:12
Collective Judge Dredd Action Figure – Mezco (478)
I’ve
been raving about these One:12 Collective figures since I first saw
them, but I haven’t actually held one in my hands yet. I have the
Previews Exclusive Batman ordered, but until I’ve reviewed it I
can’t justify pulling the trigger on another one. This Dredd looks
fantastic, but without being able the quality and durability of the
figure and the fabrics I’m not comfortable committing to an unknown
quantity like this. Now, if Mezco wanted to send me one to review
that would be a different story…
Texas
Chainsaw Massacre: Formal Leatherface 8-Inch Retro Action Figure –
NECA (480)
This
is a must-have. It’s easily my favorite look for classic
Leatherface and now I’ve gone and gotten myself addicted to these
damned NECA retro figures. It’s worth noting that these are two
inches taller than the One:12 Collective figures and cost less than
half as much. Those things are going to have to be some damned fine
collectibles to pass muster.
Big
Trouble in Little China ReAction Figures – Funko (480)
These
are also must-haves, as you might have gathered from the various
times I’ve mentioned them and because Big
Trouble in Little China is
my all-time favorite movie. As I type this mine are on the way, so I
won’t be ordering them from Previews and waiting until May (really?
May?) for them to arrive. While I wouldn’t mind having a second set
to open, I bet these are being sold by the case.
Karate
Kid ReAction Figures – Funko (481)
I
won’t be buying these, but Needless Things’ Head of Research,
Ryan would totally sweep my leg if I didn’t mention them. They
really are some of the best-looking ReAction figures so far. I might
be tempted by a Mr. Miyagi if I see one at retail. Also, I keep
forgetting to mention this, but I think Funko should do a Daniel-san
in shower costume variant for San Diego Comic Con.
Previews
Exclusive Firefly: Jayne Cobb w/ Hat Legacy Collection Action Figure
– Funko (482)
Carry
this around with you at Dragon Con and win Jayne Hat Punch Buggy in
the cheapest way possible!
Previews
Exclusive Big Trouble in Little China: Ghost Lo Pan Glow-in-the-Dark
Pop! Figure – Funko (546)
See!
This
is why you read this column every month. Because of stuff like poor
little glow-in-the-dark David Lo Pan being tucked away in the
“Collectibles & Novelties” section rather than the toys. You
might have overlooked him if not for me!
Anyway,
you know I’m all over this one. I was about to say that I find it
odd that the regular Big Trouble Pop!s aren’t listed, but I think
they might have offered those last month.
That’s
all I’ve got for this month. Start putting your pennies in your
Diamond Select figural bank and remember to drop your order form off
at your Local Comic Book Shop!
I just got my set of Big Trouble in Little China figures in the mail yesterday. I'm a big Reaction fan and huge BTILC and Kurt Russel junkie, so I'm pretty pleased with them. Actually, I've had a pretty BTILC inspired week. We watched the movie again over the weekend, I got my ReAction figures in the mail, on Monday night at my weekly D&D session I made a side mission with an old guy that sounded like David Lo Pan for my players to interact with, and while watching through TMNT my wife and I just reached the BTILC inspired episode.
ReplyDeleteThat ghost of Lo Pan POP is pretty amazing! I want that!
Nice! I love the ReAction figures. I hope we get more series. They seem to be flying off the pegs at Toys R Us, so that's good.
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