Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Deceptively Busy October

My initial impression of October's solicits was it would be another month of slim pickings. Then I tallied up the total number of books I'd scrawled done and was forced to reconsider. It's not so much there was nothing I'm interested in, just that it was all confined to what is, for me these days, a small number of publishers.

Also, DC hasn't released their solicits as of my writing this post, but it wasn't likely they were going to release something new I'd be interested in two months in a row.

So, what's new, pussycat? Marvel's releasing another oversized collection of Kelly Thompson and Guruhiru's It's Jeff comics from their online app. Boom! has Slow Burn, a 5-issue mini-series by Ollie Masters and Pierluigi Minotti about a couple of crooks and their hostage trying to hide in what's left of a town sitting on a endlessly burning coal fire. Man, everybody wants to do comics about people deciding a toxic and obviously dangerous situation is no big deal these days. I don't have a feel for if this is a horror story or a mystery or what, so I'll keep my eyes on the next couple of solicits.

Third, there's A Haunting on Mars by Zach Chapman and Ruairi Coleman, published by Scout Comics, about a special team sent to investigate a dead colony on Mars. It's a classic formula, but it could be good. Although with no mention of how many issues it is, it could end up being like Deadfellows or Sudden Death, where there's a first issue and then. . .nothing.

What's ending this month? As mentioned, I haven't seen the solicits, but I assume the final issue of Unstoppable Doom Patrol will be out.

And all the rest? Moon Knight, Captain Marvel: Dark Tempest, Uncanny Spider-Man. The Fantastic Four are fighting dinosaur versions of other Marvel heroes, so I'm assuming North is using that one multiverse from Excalibur #51. Although those were reptilian-derived, not actual dinosaurs, so maybe not. Either way, probably a bad sign I'm not more excited at the prospect of that.

Outside Marvel, the second issues of both Coda, Lone and Midnight Western Theatre: Witch Trial. Also the second issue of Space Outlaws, but I didn't realize that book was $7 a pop, so may be waiting on it. There's also (probably) the second issue of Fire and Ice: Welcome to Smallville, but, again, not sure if I'll be getting that.

Still, that's potentially 13 books. The total builds up fast sometimes.

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