I Was Gonna Be Busy In April, Anyway

The solicits for April were not encouraging. I couldn't a find a single new thing in the smaller, independent publishers that caught my eye. Same thing with Dark Horse and IDW.

Dynamite had a solicit out for a second volume of Tim Truman's Scout, which is something I'd decided to track down a few months ago, but I think that's just a reissuing of an earlier printing (I found a discounted copy of the first volume while I was visiting Alex over the weekend).

DC is issuing a big collection of Judd Winick's run on Outsiders, which I'm not buying, but this reminded me that was a thing that existed, and I chuckled a little. I know Marvel and DC will collect just about anything - Marvel put out a multi-volume Clone Saga collection for pete's sake - but I have to wonder how many of those DC really expects to sell. Maybe they're planning to do an Outsiders TV show? That seems like a team that would better lend itself to the kind of darker style I've heard they went with for that Titans show (which I haven't watched, so maybe it doesn't match the early impressions).

Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen are doing a sequel series to Descender called, naturally, Ascender. Now magic dominates everything? Not for me, but I wasn't expecting that. There's also a mini-series called Section Zero, but Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett. The tagline was "X-Files meets Kirby", so if that's sounds like a thing you'd enjoy, there you go.

Coda is up to the penultimate issue. Giant Days finds Esther is trying to finish her thesis. I had a horrifying thought that Giant Days might end at issue 50. If some of the cast is nearing graduation, this might be it. Then I felt sad. Smooth Criminals has its stars trying to pull their heist. In issue 6 of a 12-issue series? I'm sure everything is going to go smoothly.

At Marvel, War of the Realms kicks off. I assume someone cares about that. Only 3 ancillary mini-series and 5 ongoing doing tie-ins so far, though. Including Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Loki fans, start your anticipation!

It seems remarkably restrained for Marvel, until I remember the X-Men are doing their Age of X-Man thing (with 4 or 5 tie-in minis), and Amazing Spider-Man is doing that "Hunted" story which at least seems to be staying out of the other Spider-Man books. Although considering Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is doing an issue about Peter learning about Aunt May's most recent health crisis, maybe I'd be better off with him punching Kraven.

Domino and the Hotshots is getting a Deadpool appearance, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are having a Spider-Man guest appearance. Noted only because I'm surprised it took him 42 issues to show-up. Marvel Team-Up is starting up again, with Ms. Marvel as the recurring character. That's actually not a terrible idea. Kamala will probably be excited to team-up with other heroes (until the obligatory Deadpool appearance), which would be a change of pace from when it was Spidey's book and he usually regarded the team-ups as an added headache.

Oh, and Marvel is letting Rob Liefeld do a mini-series about someone called Major X. You will be shocked to learn he carries both guns and swords. Who could have expected that?

And I just want to mention that the Avengers War of the Realms tie-in (starring the Squadron Supreme) specifically mentions Agent Coulson as being the only one who knows something. Meaning he is alive. Meaning Deadpool didn't kill him during Secret Empire. Meaning I was right to be annoyed at Duggan for trying so hard to convince me everyone was super-pissed about Wade killing Coulson.

Given the way things look like they're going for Marvel in 2019, I wonder if Boom! is going to catch them this year. Probably not, but something I'll keep an eye on.