By Phantom Troublemaker
If you don’t know, Previews
is the catalog 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 are typically about three months away. Most of
this month’s offerings are scheduled to ship in May.
Now it’s time to discuss a few of the weird and/or
wonderful items offered in this month’s edition!
In my mind Image Comics is still a distant third to
Marvel and DC. I don’t know how accurate this is, numbers-wise, but that’s the
spot the independent publisher occupies. But this is the twenty-fifth
anniversary of the birth of the home of so many critical darlings and they seem
to be making a push to be seen as a more serious contender in the marketplace.
The first thing of note is that an Image book is on the
front cover of Previews while a DC
title – featuring an illustration that is full of marketing significance – is
on the back. I know this isn’t the first time Image has had the front and it
might not even be the first time they’ve shared covers with DC. But the fact
that some newbie book called Rose is
featured more prominently than Batman holding the Comedian’s trademark button
from Watchmen speaks volumes to me.
Side Note: I am aware that in all
likelihood the only reason Image has the front is that they paid more than DC,
but in terms of persuading the average consumer, it sends a powerful message
that Batman – DC’s biggest moneymaker - is playing second fiddle to Image’s
title. Personally I see this as a huge mistake on DC’s part. Whoever handles
DC’s dealings with Diamond should be replaced. You may doubt the significance
here, but it’s Marketing 101.
Thing of note number 2 is Image’s new slogan – “The
Future of Comics”. This powerful message is printed in huge block letters down
the side of every single page of Image’s section of Previews. It’s not so much what the message says about Image as it
is what it says about the publisher’s competitors. That they’re the past. And
our brains know that Image publishes a
lot of books that are fresh and new and different while Marvel and DC are
selling the same books they’ve been selling for the past seventy-plus years.
Even their newest characters are just thinly-veiled attempts at diversity
dressed up in the same old costumes. Not Image, though. Image is the
trendsetter. Image has been embracing real diversity for years. IMAGE IS THE
FUTURE.
Man, I think I just talked myself out of caring about “THE
BUTTON!!!!!”.
JUST KIDDING.
I am absolutely intrigued by whatever the heck DC is
doing with Watchmen in the DCU; probably to the point where I’ll start picking
up The Flash in addition to Batman. Just so I can read “THE
BUTTON!!!!!”.
Final
Fantasy VII is my second-favorite RPG (Chrono Trigger is my favorite), but I
didn’t know they were doing a remake. Either way I’d love to have nice figures
of the characters, but not a hundred and fifty bucks nice. I got Final Fantasy XV for Christmas, but
haven’t started it yet. I’m a busy guy. Once I do pay I’m probably going to
think this guy – whoever he is – is pretty cool.
It’s great that Diamond is spotlighting these
family-friendly titles – and others throughout Previews – but it’s also a shame that it even has to happen. I
believe that sixty percent (or so) of comic books should be family-friendly in
the first place. That doesn’t mean for
kids, that means for everyone.
Especially superhero books.
This year Free Comic Book Day falls on Saturday, May 6th.
Visit FREECOMICBOOKDAY.COM for more
details!
I don’t believe I’ve ever read anything by James Stokoe,
but I know his name from admiring his art in past previews. Since Dark Horse’s Aliens comics tend to range from very
good to excellent, I’m going to give this one a shot.
That is a much
better costume.
I have finally resolved my feelings about trunks-less
Batman and Superman. I was reading Trinity
(which is very good, by the way) and there was this one panel where I realized
it was the first time I didn’t notice that Batman and Superman were missing
their trunks and realized that I hadn’t been noticing it for a while. For
whatever reason, the trunks-less look has finally clicked with me and it looks
fine. Especially with Superman’s red boots back. I think the red belt with the
yellow buckle helps for some reason.
I love the look of this
guy’s pixelated powers. He’s called 8-BIT because duh.
Aw, man – I thought we were done with stupid hammerhead
New 52 King Shark. Did anyone like this design? I mean, obviously someone did,
but I sure don’t. Regardless, this is a great cover. It is reminiscent of JAWS without being a direct lift.
If you’re not reading James Tynion IV’s excellent Detective Comics you’re missing out on
some excellent Bat-Family stories. I haven’t enjoyed Batman in a team book this
much since… I don’t know. Ever?
I thoroughly enjoyed “No Man’s Land” and all of the stuff
leading up to it, but I never picked up the follow-up stories. Seeing that
they’re by Greg Rucka – who still has more hits than misses with me – makes me
excited to check this collection out. This seems to have been a good era for
Batman that I missed the first time around.
“Zero Hour” had a ton of time travel/alternate universe
stuff going on. It was a line-wide event, but it didn’t require that you read a
bunch of books you didn’t want to. I remember enjoying it quite a bit. I think
I still have the individual issues of the books I read, I kind of want to
revisit them to see if the event was as fun as I remember.
Mike Mignola is one of the all-time greats of the comic
book industry and a personal favorite of mine. This comes out on my birthday,
May 10th, so someone better get it for me.
If you were collecting Kenner’s Batman: The Animated Series line back in the day, then you might
remember a similar set of figures that came in similar packaging. While the
nostalgia is definitely a plus, this is a set of essential figures. It includes
my preferred versions of Mr. Freeze, Bane, Poison Ivy, and Killer Croc, along
with Renee Montoya, who is a must-have. The $175 price tag is, however,
ridiculous, so I’m going to wait and see what happens with this one. $35 per
figure is pretty steep. And I might appreciate the fancy box, but you guys know
what I do with toy packaging; fancy or not.
Jim Aparo’s Batman is my favorite, but Breyfogle’s is a
close second for obvious reasons. I’d love to have a 3D representation of this
Dark Knight, but I am trying to stay away from statues. They can be super neat,
but in the long run they just don’t satisfy me in the same way that action
figures do.
These plush Super Pets based on the work of Art Baltazar
are some of the best things DCD has ever produced. They’re perfectly executed
and the fifteen dollar price is right.
If you thought I could just move past cover art depicting
Joseph Dredd with a Santa Claus beard you just don’t know me very well.
I’m not current on IDW’s Judge Dredd books and have not read Mega-City Zero, which The
Blessed Earth follows up. As a matter of fact, I have only recently found
out that Dredd has been aging in real time since his first appearance. I think
that’s pretty interesting.
Considering how much I have enjoyed the little bit
of Dredd that I have read and how much I love the idea of the character, I’m
surprised I haven’t picked up more books. But British comics can be somewhat
impenetrable sometimes and Dredd’s continuity in particular seems to run deep.
You should buy anything with Kyle Starks’s name on it.
This is the guy that created Sexcastle
and The Legend of Ricky Thunder. His
stuff rules. JUST DO IT. And go to his website. And order that Sexcastle OGN if you don’t already have
it.
The greatest comic book series I have ever read. Order
this and, if you don’t have it, order the first hardcover. It’s excellent. I
already have the single issues, but I want the fancy hardcover. I want ALL the Saga stuff. Except the lousy action
figures.
Highest recommendation!
This is the tale of an ugly America and heroic Canadians.
Brian K. Vaughn tells a compelling story, but the even bigger draw for me was
Steve Skroce’s art. His style is somewhat reminiscent of Geoff Darrow’s in that
you can sit and stare at a single page for a long time just soaking in all of
the detail.
I don’t generally cover magalogs (catazines?), but I just
wanted to mention this awesome art by Howard Chaykin. I’d buy this as a poster
if they sold it.
I want to be excited for a new beginning for the X-Men so badly. I want to read X books again.
I love the X-Men.
X-Men
Blue
is written by Cullen Bunn (whose work I generally like) with art by Jorge
Molina and Matteo Buffagni. I feel like I have enjoyed Molina’s work elsewhere,
but the peek at the interior art put me right off of this title:
This is far cartoonier than I want my Mutants. Beyond
that, I don’t love the original X-Men as much as I do the All-New,
All-Different ones. Speaking of which…
This is a team I can get behind. Nightcrawler, Storm,
Colossus, (Old Man) Logan, and Prestige (Rachel Grey) led by Kitty Pryde. Even
the description makes me happy:
“An all-new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is rampaging
through New York City!”
This just feels
like my X-Men. And the interior art for this one is worlds better:
Ardian Syaf’s art is fantastic, which makes me feel bad
for thinking that he was responsible for that garbage splash panel last month.
Marc Guggenheim – best known to me for his work on TV’s Arrow – is writing. Here’s hoping he’s great, because I’m giving
this one a chance. At least until they do a massive crossover. Then I’m out.
While I’m giving mutants a chance, I might just check out
All-New Wolverine. I’ve heard nothing
but good things about it and this is a jumping-on point. I’ve been meaning to
check out X-23’s adventures as Wolverine proper for a while, but just haven’t
known where to start.
I’m always up for a new stab (GET IT?) at the Weapon X
program. All of these characters are old favorites of mine and I’ve liked
pretty much everything I’ve read from Greg Pak. Here’s hoping we’re entering
into a new age of quality for Marvel’s Merry Mutants.
I never read any of the stuff about the clone. I’m just
here to say that I think the new costume is mostly cool, the hood is lame and
clearly trying too hard for Spider-Gwen-ness, and that the smiley head is
stupid. I like Bagley, but that was a bad call.
Someone explain to me - why Marvel didn’t just import
Ultimate Nick Fury alongside Miles Morales?
That aside, I don’t really care too much about the hows
of Marvel’s black Nick Fury. We all know why they did it. What matters is that
James Robinson is writing this and his Starman
is fantastic. This art, though. Having read the first issue of Cave Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye from
the Distinguished Competition, I can tell you that I am too old for this shit.
Fifteen-year-old me would have loved
it, but I can tell you just from the preview page this book would annoy the
heck out of me.
Noted for Quentin Quire sighting.
Noted for being the most 90s thing I have ever seen in a
modern comic. Except maybe for New 52 Deathstroke. That was downright
embarrassing.
If you really need a copy of this I know about a dozen
retailers that will sell you one for a quarter. And it’ll come in a nifty
polybag.
The jury is still out on this one. I’m two issues in and
it’s pretty good, but I don’t think I love it. There are some pretty
heavy-handed SJW overtones that keep me from really enjoying the characters and
story. Writers have zero subtlety these days. Mike Grell’s agenda in Green Arrow was less obvious.
First the eyeball caught my eye, then the giant, floating
box. These covers are compelling. The description puts these anthologies over
as a pretty big deal without telling us much about them. But something is
telling me to take a leap and check them out.
I was ready to mock this one as being the obvious product
of Gene Simmons’ publicly documented pervy mind. I can’t think of anything that
says “Gene Simmons” more than a patriotic sex worker.
Then I read the description and not only does the plot
sound interesting, I can see it working as a movie or even a TV show. It would
be outrageous and almost certainly have to have a humorous bent, but it’s a solid concept. Some government peon
drops by for his monthly spanking and spooks in black suits show up to
terminate him, with our heroine escaping with a briefcase full of secrets. Or
something. You get the idea.
Now I’m actually tempted to check this thing out just to
see if it’s as well-executed as it could be.
This one just walloped me right in the head with selling
point after selling point:
*Great art
*Weird sex stuff
*Like Eyes Wide
Shut, except supernatural (and possibly good)
*VERY clever title with many interpretations, all of
which are relevant to the story
*Name-dropping Drag
Me to Hell
Wait – why is Dynamite doing a comic about these Valiant
guys?
Also, is her name actually “Corn”?:
As far as I can tell Dynamite doesn’t address the issue
that these characters have been the stars of comics from Valiant for years now,
but I’m assuming that they’re public domain.
They’re all originally Gold Key
properties that Valiant either licensed or used because they were already public domain way back when.
Someone ask Jim Shooter about all of this.
It’s worth noting that Valiant does not appear to be
using any of these characters right now.
Anyone want to come on the Needless Things Podcast and
explain all of this to me?
This sounds interesting. I’m all about century-spanning
mysteries, especially ones that go all the way from the Mayans to futuristic
outer space times! I’ll review this one and let you guys know how it is.
I’m a big fan of the Grimm
Tales of Terror series, but even more so of the seasonal and holiday
specials that Zenescope puts out. I’ll recommend these to any fans of horror
and old-school pre-code comics. They’re a fun, modern take on familiar themes.
I can’t wait to see what they do with an April Fools’ issue.
I’m not necessarily recommending that you order this from
Diamond because I don’t know if it will actually hit your Local Comic Shop on
April 11th – the release date – or what kind of condition it would
be in if it did. You’re probably much better off getting it from Barnes &
Noble or even Target. But for me this is a landmark release. Thrawn is one of
my all-time favorite villains and his creator, Timothy Zahn, is getting the
opportunity to re-tell his origin as it fits in with the new Star Wars
continuity.
I was excited enough when Thrawn was announced as part of
Disney’s Star Wars plans, but the fact that Zahn was brought back to fill in
his history is remarkable.
As prescient as I apparently was five
years ago, even I didn’t see this coming!
I hate that they rarely credit the artist on these
shirts. This appears to be Joe Quinones’ work from the recently canceled Howard book (one of the best things
Marvel has ever published). I’d love to have it, but I just do not need any
more t-shirts. I’m drowning in fucking t-shirts over here.
You know why all you got was a t-shirt? Because you did a
lousy job, stupid. We’ve seen a lot of bad “humorous” shirts in Previews over the years, but I think
this is one of the worst.
Once again these bozos miss the mark on a seasonal shirt.
Sure, this Deadpool shirt isn’t specifically
Valentine’s Day-related, but don’t you think it would have been a good idea to
solicit it that way? And a few months ago? It would’ve sold like hotcakes!
Alright, weirdos – I don’t even want to know what you’re
doing with these. I’ve seen them in stores and they are odd.
I am totally addicted to these now. This Slade Wilson
looms like possibly the best one so far. I can’t wait. So far very few of these
have come out on time, so I wouldn’t expect this one until October or so. And
I’m okay with that. I’d rather have a perfect figure late than a shoddy figure
on time.
This one will be a true test of the One:12 aesthetic. In
theory, Spider-Man’s costume is pretty much all fabric. Obviously that wouldn’t
work with the detail and playability that we expect from this line. I won’t be
able to judge it until I’ve got it in hand, but it looks like Mezco has done a
fine job of combining plastic elements with their usual materials. This could
be the best Spider-Man figure ever released.
This wave was originally canceled due to poor sales of
the twenty Engineer figures that NECA produced. For folks like me that dug Prometheus this was crushing, as the
wave included the only figure of Elizabeth Shaw – an excellent character with a
name lifted directly from Doctor Who.
It looks like NECA is taking the opportunity to release these thanks to Alien: Covenant and I couldn’t be
happier. Plus we get a Charlize Theron action figure, something which is
bizarrely missing from my collection!
Side Note: I can’t wait to see Covenant toys at Toy Fair in a couple of
weeks. Hear all about them on the February 24th episode of Needless
Things Podcast!
Man, I loved this game so much. Not enough to pay almost three hundred bucks for a statue,
but a lot. I just want an action figure of the King of All Cosmos.
These are incredible and also probably cost six hundred
dollars. If I were super rich, I’d buy one. Or both. Why not?
Spooktastic! I want ‘em all! I had to do some research to
find this out, but site favorite artist Doug P’Gosh is responsible for
designing these.
Clearly my mind is going. I don’t know how it is that
every month when I’m flipping through the Image section I see all of these
books on issue #14 or #27 or whatever and I’ve never heard of them.
Legends
of Tomorrow has finally gotten good. As of this writing,
the last two episodes were awesome! I think this is largely because they were
about the Legion of Doom more than the “heroes”. Also, I find that I like
mindwiped Rip Hunter a whole lot more. My guess is that Legends is lifting the plot of the Doctor Who episode “Human Nature” and Rip’s memories are stored in
a pen or something.
I can barely pay attention to Flash anymore.
Let me know what you’re looking forward to in the
comments, or join the discussion in the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group!
*****
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!
Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for
all of the latest toy news and live reports from the stores that carry them!
If you enjoy comic books, toys, or Needless Things, you
might enjoy SupportPhantom.com.
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ReplyDeleteI collect the B&W statues so this one by Norm Breyfogle, is a must buy for me so it's time to get saving again.
ReplyDeleteI am so tempted, but will hold strong!
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