Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Heating Up in Late Summer

Hey, gimme one of those really BIG months, full of books I'm excited to buy!

Internet: *dumps August solicits on the bar* That big enough for ya, Yank?

*skims through the solicits* Yeah, that's pretty big. I guess.

What's coming out that's new? DC's continuing the descent of Amanda Waller with a level of super-villainy that no doubt makes Lex Luthor envious. Yeah, I'll pass on that. Marvel, besides the continuing flood of new X-books - how many charts will Jonathan Hickman make Greg Capullo draw in their Wolverine mini-series - and letting Liefeld write and draw Deadpool Team-Up, is starting up Venom War. Will I never be free of symbiotes?!

One version of Marvel's solicits listed Werewolf By Night: Red Band, which might be some sort of one-shot. I enjoyed that Werewolf by Night book I bought last year, although this one is apparently going to be polybagged, which has got my Shitty 90s sense blaring, so who knows.

Boom! has the first issue of Red Before Black, by Stephanie Phillips and Goran Sudzuka. I'm not sure I'm the audience for a 'crime thriller reminiscent of 2000s-era Vertigo', and Phillips hasn't exactly knocked my socks off, but it probably merits a first issue trial. Magma Comix has The Pedestrian, by Joey Esposito and Sean Von Gorman, about a stranger who "speed walks" into a city and quietly changes the lives of the people living there. You know, that could describe the shopkeeper in Needful Things, but I don't think that's what they're going for. Not the speed walking part, the quietly changing their lives part. He acted quietly, even if the results often involved guns or explosives.

Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows are working together on Babs, a 6-issue sword and sorcery mini-series about a barbarian thief with a talking sword, published by Ahoy Comics. I dunno, it's been awhile since I bought anything new by Ennis - based on the tags, it was the first issue of All-Star Section Eight - but this also doesn't appear to involve superheroes, so maybe it's safe from the impulses the capes bring out in him. Because I don't expect "restraint" is a word to associate with this book.

I've been wondering what would happen with some of the books that were solicited through Scout Comics, what with the bad press and apparent chaos of unpaid creators. For at least one book, the answer is, "get published by Dark Harbor," as Loop #1, which was supposed to be released last month, pops up there. Looks like half of the six books Dark Harbor's releasing in August were originally solicited by Scout. Hopefully this company doesn't go under between now and then.

What's ending? Morning Star and Blow Away will both be on their 5th and final issues, if I'm still buying them by then.

And all the rest? Well, Blood Hunt is over, so I can welcome Fantastic Four (double-shipping in August) and Vengeance of the Moon Knight back into the mix. Deadpool's in deep trouble and relying on his daughters to save him. I thought for a second the text meant Warda, the kid Deadpool was going to have with Shiklah at some point according to Duggan's post-Secret Wars run, before I realized they mean the giant symbiote dog.

Scout Comics re-solicited the third issue of Rogues. I notice they also cut out all those imprint lines they were starting up, back to consolidating everything they publish under one heading. Which is probably a smart plan.

Viz Media has the 15th volume of Zom 100. I actually bought the 4th volume earlier this month, so maybe I'll get there, eventually. Along the lines of series I'm way behind on, I also bought the first volume of Yakuza Fiance this month, so the solicitation of the 8th volume from Seven Seas is of interest to me (although it's description of Yoshino as having 'resting bitch face' seems highly inaccurate, not to mention rude.)

Best case scenario, that's 12 comics, more than June and July combined. Call it progress.

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