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THINGS TO COME
ARTICLE 10
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Welcome to the future, in the wild world of 2005. I'm referring, of course, to the new issue of Previews that solicits everything scheduled to ship with in the first month of the new year. I find it a little hard at times to concentrate on the future when I'm really more concerned about the present. For me, the present is writing this the night before I go run my fourth marathon... which means that by the time everyone else reads this, it's an event that is no longer in the future or the present, but in fact part of the past.
To be honest, I don't know how time travelers do it.
I was going to write up every entry and tie it into THE FLASH as a bit of homage to my running activities, but quite frankly it's the stupidest idea I've ever had for Things to Come, narrowly beating out my suggestion of using streaming video for an all-singing-and-dancing installment of the column. (You can thank the editors of Ninth Art for vetoing that particular idea.) So instead, I'm going to just jump right in and stop wasting time... and specifically direct you to a section of Previews that you otherwise might have missed.
ASTERIX VOLS. 1-4, by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
(ASTERIX THE GAUL, ASTERIX AND THE GOLDEN SICKLE, ASTERIX AND THE GOTHS, and ASTERIX THE GLADIATOR)
NOV04 3229, NOV04 3230, NOV04 3231, NOV04 3232, p377, $9.95
These solicitations were charmingly hidden in what I like to call 'The Books Ghetto', also known as "that part of Previews that no one actually reads". It's all the more frustrating because these are easily some of the best comics in the entire January 2005 solicitations. The first 24 volumes of ASTERIX (all the ones that both Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo worked on, before Goscinny died and Uderzo decided to continue alone) have been out of print in English for several years now due to a publishing dispute. Thankfully that's now resolved, and we're finally getting the original, classic ASTERIX books once again.
In 50 BC, the Roman Empire has taken over all of Gaul (aka France) except for one tiny little village. The village's secret? The druid Getafix, who makes a magic potion that gives its user superhuman strength. Thanks to the smart warrior Asterix (and his not-so-smart friend Obelix), the Romans are forever kept away from conquering this last piece of Gaul... no matter how many times they keep trying.
Full of visual and verbal puns, this is screwball comedy at its finest. I've yet to meet someone who reads an ASTERIX book and doesn't like it, they're just that funny. I'm delighted that I finally get to fill the rather substantial holes in my ASTERIX collection. I'd always taken for granted that I could take my time buying my own copies instead of borrowing a friend's collection, and that's a mistake I won't make twice.
WOLF'S RAIN VOL 1-2 by BONES, Keiko Nobumoto, and Toshitsugu Iida
NOV04 3047 & NOV04 3048, p348, $9.99
I'm not familiar with the WOLF'S RAIN animated series that this is based on, but I am familiar with the creator's other works, namely COWBOY BEBOP and ESCAFLOWNE. This gives me tremendous hope; both of them took the genres they worked with (space bounty hunters, fantasy worlds) and quietly punched them up into something much greater.
Wolves on the run from humankind looking for paradise sounds like just the sort of thing that the minds behind COWBOY BEBOP would have envisioned, so I'll take a look. I do wish both volumes weren't solicited at the same time, though, because I'd like to take a look at the first before committing to them both. After all, the COWBOP BEBOP manga was atrociously hideous, to put it mildly. Here's hoping this isn't the same sort of disappointment all over again.
LEGAL DRUG VOL 2 by CLAMP
NOV04 2920, p328, $9.99
Yay! It's CLAMP's new series LEGAL DRUG! Any series from the CLAMP creator collective headed up by Mick Nekoi (who also was the lead talent on WISH and SUKI) is automatically checked out by yours truly; she's got a beautifully light ink line that makes her art seem delicate and intricate, and the emotional heart of her stories always strike me as strong.
I have no idea why CLAMP's decided to put marijuana leaves on the covers of the boo,k since as far as I can tell it's got nothing whatsoever to do with dope (maybe they just thought it looked cool?) but is instead about two men going on missions to deliver or retrieve various artifacts. Oh well, it's still awfully fun so far, strange marketing aside.
PLANETES VOL 4 PART 2 by Makoto Yukimura
NOV04 2926, p330, $9.99
Why aren't you buying this yet? This is one of... no, make it the best science-fiction series being published right now in comics. Everything about it is perfect; the yearning to travel into deep space, the cast of characters that are both explorers and space garbage collectors alike, and the amazingly detailed and perfect art. PLANETES is a book that everyone should be reading, period.
F STOP by Antony Johnston and Matt Loux
NOV04 2850, p310, $14.95
Oni Press books by Ninth Art's own Antony Johnston (THREE DAYS IN EUROPE, CLOSER, SPOOKED, JULIUS) have hit a wild variety of styles and genres, proving that he's not going to get pigeonholed into a single type of book. I shouldn't have been surprised, then, to see that his name was attached to F STOP, a story about an unsuccessful photographer who, through some white lies, ends up attached to Chantel, the up-and-coming runway model, and becomes one of the most sought-after photographers in all of New York.
This sounds to me like it could either go for comedy or drama - although knowing Johnston I'd bet a bit of both. Artist Matt Loux appears to have a realistic style that lends itself to this sort of book. And hey, it's got to be better than the dreadful I, PAPARAZZI from Vertigo a few years ago.
CRYPTOZOO CREW #1 by Allan Gross and Jerry Carr
NOV04 2833, p308, $2.95
At SPX 2003, Allan Gross and Jerry Carr had a CRYPTOZOO ashcan at their booth. I went home with a copy and I was almost instantly hooked; Tork and Tara Darwyn, cryptozoologists exploring the far ends of the Earth looking for exotic and amazing species, provided a great mix of adventure and humor. In many ways, it reminded me a lot of the old pulp adventure novels, and if that's what Gross and Carr were going for, they succeeded mightily.
I've got a ton of goodwill built up based just on that one comic; the fact that I remember it over a year later says a lot. I can't tell based on the solicitation if this is reprinting the CRYPTOZOO CREW web comic or if it's full comic stories told exclusively for the print medium, but so long as we eventually get mothmen and yeti, I'm easily pleased.
ISAAC THE PIRATE VOL 2 by Christophe Blaine
NOV04 2835, p308, $14.95
I loved the first ISAAC THE PIRATE collection from NBM. Christophe Blaine's stories of a painter who becomes a pirate to make ends meet was a surprisingly amount of fun, going from tropical islands to Antarctica without missing a beat, and providing so many twists and turns I never had the slightest idea what was going to happen next.
Blain's artwork is wonderfully moody as well, using a smooth integration of pencils and colours to evoke some really gorgeous and dramatic scenes. I don't know if pirates are still 'cool' or not, but this book is definitely a lot of fun; Blaine proved to me here that he can tell one hell of an adventure story.
CABLE/DEADPOOL #11 by Fabian Nicieza and Patrick Zircher
NOV04 1822, pM54, $2.99
"The traumatic, tragic and tantric events of 'The Burnt Offering' have left Cable..."
Stop. I don't want to read any more. Do the people who write the solicitations at Marvel know what the word tantric even means? Do I really want to know how they're applying it to CABLE/DEADPOOL? Let's move on, shall we?
COMBAT ZONE: TRUE TALES OF GIs IN IRAQ #1-2 by Karl Zinsmeister and Dan Jurgens
NOV04 1776 & NOV04 1777, pM21, $2.99
I'll admit it, I raised my eyebrow when I first saw this. To be honest, it sounds like a real easy road to the wonderful world of propaganda. However, the mini-series is being written by Karl Zinsmeister, an actual journalist who's been in Iraq, which gives me a little hope, although I'm still more than a bit hesitant about the series. If this is a fair and balanced portrayal of what's going on in Iraq, power to Marvel for publishing it.
DISTRICT X VOL. 1: MISTER M TP by David Hine, David Yardin, and Lan Medina
NOV04 1840, pM74, $14.99
I have absolutely no idea if this is really any good or not. It's gotten a lot of praise from people who've read it, and the idea of taking one of the most underused (and generally aimless) X-Men and making him part of a police book set in "mutant town" certainly opens up a lot of possibilities. Hopefully this collection will remain available and in print longer than the issues it collected did, where if you blinked you may have missed your chance entirely. Definitely worth a look, but I can only go on other's raves rather than any concrete knowledge of my own.
FOUR LETTER WORLDS GN
NOV04 1533, p139, $12.95
The problem with anthologies is that you're really at the whim of the editor's tastes when it comes to who's included in the book. That's a problem, you see, because I've never found any two people who truly have the exact same tastes. Generally speaking, I think if you enjoy 50% of an anthology you're doing good, and with 75% and up you should keep an eye on the editor for any future anthologies that he or she might edit as well.
If the line-up for FOUR LETTER WORLDS is any indication of what's to come, Eric Stephenson might very well become my new favourite anthology editor. Getting to produce stories using one of four possible themes (Love, Hate, Fear, Fate), creators for the anthology include Amber Benson, Joe Casey, Chynna Clugston, Kieron Dwyer, Jay Faerber, Matt Fraction, Steven Griffin, Mike Hawthorne, Mike Huddleston, Phil Hester, Robert Kirkman, Steve Lieber, Jim Mahfood, Jamie McKelvie, B Clay Moore, Scott Morse, Mike Norton, Jeff Parker, Jamie S Rich, Mark Ricketts, Steve Rolston, J Torres and Andi Watson. I find it hard to believe that such a strong line-up of talent could really go wrong. What a great way to kick off the new year.
NEGATIVE BURN: THE VERY BEST FROM 1993-1998 TP
NOV04 1537, p143, $19.95
Also available from Image in the anthology department is a "best of" collection from Caliber's 50-issue NEGATIVE BURN anthology. This is a book that's going to truly live and die based on which stories are selected for inclusion.
Don't get me wrong, there were some real gems along the way; several of the Alan Moore song adaptations were really clever, for instance, and James Owen's 'Starchild' story got me to instantly pick up the book. And of course, there were contributors like Zander Cannon, Edvin Biukovic, Darko Macan, Terry Moore, Paul Pope, Andrew Robinson, Goran Sudzuka, Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack... nothing to sneeze at.
It's just that as a monthly (or so) anthology, NEGATIVE BURN sometimes seemed to fill issues with, shall we say, less than desirable stories. Hopefully this really is the very best of NEGATIVE BURN, because Caliber certainly had some talented creators working for them back in the day. I'm ready to see their earlier works dusted off and returned to the fold.
LEGEND OF GRIMJACK TP VOL 1 by John Ostrander and Tim Truman
NOV04 2751, p297, $19.99
All right, I admit it. I've never read GRIMJACK. I had friends who absolutely worshipped the book when it was being published, and nothing but great things to say about it. I'm glad that it being freed of the legal limbo that most First Comics books were trapped in (until very recently), because this means I finally get to see what all the fuss was about. The fact that it's John Ostrander and Tim Truman gives me a lot of hope though, and the premise (adventures in a city that's the nexus of all realities) has a lot of potential.
As an added bonus, it's published by IDW, and that means that the production values are going to be really high. So I'm definitely marking this as something worth taking a look at. (And hey, for all the long-time GRIMJACK readers out there, there's the start of the new GRIMJACK: KILLER INSTINCT mini-series by Ostrander and Truman also being offered. Everyone wins!)
EPILEPTIC GN by David B
NOV04 2686, p285, $24.95
I've read the first half of EPILEPTIC, and it was so good that if the second half was just David B's finger-paintings of rabbits from when he was three years old, you'd still get your money's worth. EPILEPTIC (originally published in French as L'ASCENSION DU HAUT-MAL) is David B's autobiography, about growing up in rural France with a younger brother who has epilepsy. No one really understands the physical condition, and David imagines his brother's epilepsy as demonic creatures who lurk in the shadows before flooding the boy's shell to bring on the seizures. As his parents try one 'cure' after another, you'll find yourself sucked deeper and deeper into the story. It's masterful storytelling, and I'm thrilled that all six volumes are now translated and collected into a single volume. Great stuff.
BERLIN #11 by Jason Lutes
NOV04 2618, p268, $3.95
Don't get me wrong, I really love Jason Lutes' BERLIN. I've been buying it ever since the first issue, back when Black Eye Books was still around, and I was relieved that Drawn & Quarterly rescued it from oblivion after the demise of Black Eye. And I know that art takes time to produce, and that Lutes is creating it at a schedule that works for him. But the fact that we're only on issue #11 of a 24-issue series after eight and a half years makes me wonder if I should include next-of-kin information for my subscription. (Heck, it's been a year and a half since BERLIN #10.) I know that more and more people are shifting over to exclusively reading collections of comics, but I don't think I could wait the time it's going to take for #16 to be published in order to hit that 'second collection'. The lead-up to World War II as seen in Berlin didn't take quite this long in real life!
WONDER WOMAN: BITTER RIVALS TP by Greg Rucka, Drew Johnson, and various
SUPERMAN: UNCONVENTIAL WARFARE TP by Greg Rucka, Matthew Clark, and Nelson
NOV04 0293 & NOV04 0254, p87 & p65, $12.95 & $14.95
Apparently I missed the memo that January 2005 is Greg Rucka Trade Paperback month at DC Comics - not that I'm complaining. I really enjoy his take on WONDER WOMAN, balancing not only her roles in the world as both ambassador and superhero, but also as a woman who regularly interacts with the Greek Gods and creatures of myth. It's been a very quiet build of tension from one issue to the next, but I think he's really hit his stride and I'm thrilled that there's a second collection of his work on the book now available.
This is also enough to get me to pick up the first collection of his work on the ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN book; the fact that he's focusing on Clark Kent as a reporter has grabbed my attention, and DC's willingness to already publish the first part of his run on the book suggests to me that they have a lot of confidence in what he's done so far. All right, into the shopping cart it goes.
EX MACHINA VOL 1: THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS by Brian K Vaughan, Tony Harris, and Tom Feister
NOV04 0321, p105, $9.95
Speaking of collections hitting quickly, I'm really happy to see the first EX MACHINA collection already on the schedule. The book's really promising, with Brian K Vaughan taking the premise of a superpowered mayor of New York City and pushing it in interesting directions, both fantastic and political.
Vaughan's a writer who can not only set up a great idea but then actually follow through, and what I've read so far of EX MACHINA proves that to be true yet again. If that's not enticement enough, the fact that it's Tony Harris drawing a monthly series again certainly is. It's been too long since Harris has drawn a book that I was really excited about (in fact, it was probably STARMAN) but this certainly qualifies.
SEAGUY TP by Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart
NOV04 0357, p117, $9.95
All right, everyone who was "waiting for the trade" on Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart's insanely wonderful SEAGUY, now's your chance to be counted. I saw the sales figures on the mini-series and, quite frankly, they stunk. I'm not sure why people ran screaming at the sight of SEAGUY; it's a guy in a wetsuit, with a talking fish, going up against mega-corporations and evil armies on the moon, among other impossibilities. What's not to love?
This is a book about the journey of a hero, and knowing that Morrison wants to make SEAGUY a trilogy makes me all the more impatient to see more. This is great, great stuff and I highly recommend it.
APOCALYPSE NERD #1 by Peter Bagge
NOV04 0019, p20, $2.99
You know, I have no idea what to think about this. Peter Bagge's HATE was a brilliant book and I have a lot of respect for what he achieved in its ode to slackerdom. But since then, I've been a little underwhelmed with Bagge's output. His all-ages book YEAH just didn't work, and the one he did for DC more recently about cartoonists was so underwhelming that I had to use Google to remind myself that its name was SWEATSHOP. So a nerdy guy stuck in a post-apocalyptic world could be fun, but I'm a little hesitant. This is definitely a "look before you buy" book.
(And what's up with back-up features about America's Founding Fathers? Could Bagge possibly get any more random than that? I'm starting to get a little worried.)
SIN CITY VOL 1: THE HARD GOODBYE 2ND ED & VOL 2: A DAME TO KILL FOR 2ND ED by Frank Miller
NOV04 0013 & NOV04 0014, p16-17, $17.00
I love the fact that Frank Miller's hard-boiled SIN CITY books are getting re-issued with matching trade dress courtesy Chip Kidd, and the fact that the books are getting shrunk down just a tiny bit to the dimensions of crime/thriller trade-paperbacks is a clever one, in an attempt to get them shelved in bookstores where other people might take notice. (Miller has reportedly pushed for this for years, so lest anyone think otherwise, this is the creator's wishes, not the actions of an 'evil publisher'.) I also like that the original SIN CITY is now SIN CITY: THE HARD GOODBYE, to help people identify it as something other than "that first volume with Marv".
My one complaint... and it's a small one, but I really feel like it needs to be said... is that I loathe the new logo that Chip Kidd's created for the series. The original SIN CITY logo was great. They're using it in the movie trailer, for that matter. This new one just looks sort of blah. But otherwise, I'm all for this. THE HARD GOODBYE, A DAME TO KILL FOR, and THAT YELLOW BASTARD are all fantastic, and I'm thrilled that, with the upcoming movie, a lot of new readers are about to discover some of the best work Miller's done in his career.
THE GOON VOL. 3: HEAPS OF RUINATION by Eric Powell
NOV04 0037, p31, $12.95
One of the absolute funniest books currently being published is Eric Powell's THE GOON, and what's not to love? Insane monsters, pretentious vampires, an homage to Godzilla, the diabolical Zombie Priest and his army of (duh) zombies, and a special appearance by Hellboy are just a few of the many things you've got ahead of you in this new volume.
Powell's humour is fast-moving and near-frantic, never letting you stop for more than half-a-second, and it's matched with some beautifully smooth pencils and inks that grace the page so nicely it almost makes you forget that more often than not it's drawing a massive spider, or perhaps a zombie with body parts dropping off.
SHADOW STAR VOLUME 6: WHAT CAN I DO FOR YOU NOW? by Mohiro Kitoh
NOV04 0046, p35, $15.95
I recommended this back in my very first Things To Come and now it's being resolicited, so let me try this again. SHADOW STAR on the surface may look cute and innocent and sweet, with kids who start finding these strange creatures called shadow dragons that bond to them and can do all sorts of strange shapeshifter things - it sounds nice, right? - but then some of the shadow dragons start popping out vulcan machine guns and going on killing sprees at the request of their young masters.
This is to say nothing of poison gassing entire areas of Japan, slicing each other up, and anything else that the kids can imagine. This is one of those rare books that really does get more intense with each instalment, but at the same time flows through entirely logical patterns of cause and effect.
JENNY FINN #1: DOOM & JENNY FINN #2: VIRUS by Mike Mignola and Troy Nixey
NOV04 2432 & NOV04 2433, p234, $6.99
Oh, Atomeka. It's very brave of you to try and resurrect JENNY FINN. But do you really know what you're getting into? Originally planned as a four-issue mini-series from Oni Press, JENNY FINN ground to a halt after two issues, and the editors at Oni have been regularly asked what happened to the series for the half a decade since then.
Atomeka seems convinced it can bring it back as a two-issue squarebound series (presumably #1 collects the already-published material) and you know, power to them for trying. I'd love to see how it turns out; Mignola's script about a Victorian-era prostitute spreading a mysterious virus while talking fish and tentacles keep popping up, matched with Troy Nixey's positively creepy art, was enough to give one shivers. But you know... for a book like JENNY FINN, it's almost like they're tempting fate by calling the first half DOOM. Here's hoping this time around, JENNY FINN isn't DOOMed at all.
YOUNGBLOOD: MAXIMUM COLLECTION TP by Rob Liefeld
NOV04 2391, p225, $24.99
All right, if you're buying this, just don't tell me. I'd have to remind you that there are so many copies of the original YOUNGBLOOD mini-series in quarter bins that you could build a house out of them, after all, to say nothing of the generally incoherent nature of the book. The solicitation says that these comics "launched a comic book revolution", but what they leave out is that it was a revolution of comic creators throwing out elements like plot, or story structure, or basic human anatomy. This is a return to a dark time in comics. Why would you want to go back there?
THE COURAGEOUS PRINCESS TP by Rod Espinosa
NOV04 2363, p222, $15.95
I believe I've mentioned Rod Espinosa's current series, NEOTOPIA, on Ninth Art before, but this is the book that made me desperate to read NEOTOPIA. Previously collected as a beautiful hardback book, this softcover of THE COURAGEOUS PRINCESS tells the story of Princess Mabelrose and how she has to fend herself when she's kidnapped by a fearsome dragon and taken quite far away from home. Mabelrose is such a great protagonist; she's not content to sit around and get rescued, but is instead proactive and doing her best to make the long journey back to her kingdom, while still acting recognisably as a kid. Espinosa's art is a real treat, a combination of storybook and manga influences melded into one. This is a great book, and now that a softcover version is available hopefully it'll pick up even more fans.
TRUE TRAVEL TALES #4 by Justin Hall
NOV04 2311, p216, $3.95
Justin Hall is one of those creators who I think is going to sneak up on the comics community and become an integral part of it without anyone noticing until it feels like he's been there for ages. His Xeric Grant-funded debut A SACRED TEXT was fantastic, and his series TRUE TRAVEL TALES has shown him continually growing as a creator.
I love travel narratives and Hall takes real-life stories (from romances to drug-smuggling) and makes them into really effective adventures. Each story stands on its own, so don't worry about missing earlier issues; just jump in and I think you'll be really pleased.
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