Summer Stalemate, Maybe

There was not much in the solicits for July that caught my attention. In the meantime, things I'm buying continue to wrap up, which means the list continues to shrink.

What's new? Can we just, fucking stop, with all the Godzilla crossovers? Marvel's been at it for a solid year, DC's on at least their second Godzilla and Kong meet the Justice League mini-series, and now IDW is going to have Godzilla rampage through Sonic the Hedgehog's world. I know we all long for a giant reptile to arrive and offer oblivion via the warm embrace of atomic fire, but enough already!!!!!

OK, OK, something I might be interested in. Boom! has Vampyrates, by Fred van Lente and Luca Pizzari, about a world ruled by vampires, and an overthrown queen who has to climb the ranks of a pirate crew. Feels like something I might wait for a trade on, but, if some of the other things I'm considering buying don't pan out, maybe this can take their spot.

Cosmic Lion, which seems to be one of several smaller publishers now operating under some larger heading, has a solicit for Side Quests to World Domination, which seems like a villainess and her lackey awakening in the present day and deciding they could get used to a world without magic? I don't know; I probably won't get it, but the pickings on new things were real damn slim.

Ablaze re-solicited the collection for Mark Russell and Roberto Meli's Traveling to Mars, about the first person sent to Mars being a pet store manager chosen because he was going to die of a terminal illness soon anyway. Russell's more "miss" than "hit" with me, but maybe if he doesn't lean so hard into his attempts at "clever" satirical commentary it could be interesting? Or I could just track down the back issues.

What's ending? Is Ted OK? wraps up, and I thought Moonstar was only a five issue mini-series, but the solicit for issue 5 says the final battle "begins." Is Marvel going back to doing everything in multiples of 6 instead of 5? At any rate, until I hear otherwise, I'm not ruling out that it's ending here.

Though it won't be out until August, Seven Seas Entertainment listed the 13th volume of Precarious Woman Executive Miss Black General. And it appears Jin was able to resolve everything in this volume, so that'll be it for that series. How well he managed to resolve everything, I guess I'll find out later this year. 

And the rest: Fantastic Four is shipping twice, each issue by a different artist, and apparently the artist for issue 13, Sorrentino, uses AI to help with their art. I probably shouldn't buy that, since I tend to think "AI" is a sham, and people who use it are hacks. Too bad; Johnny asking Sue to make his skin invisible so people would think he was Ghost Rider sounded like a fun plot idea.

Also not loving Marvel going back to shipping titles twice a month like it's the late-2000s. Desperation pouring off them like Axe body spray off some douchey guy with a popped collar.

Batgirl is still trying to solve a murder that revolves around memories she's missing. In the realm of books Vampyrates might supplant, The Deadman's got to deal with some soul-eating alien demon, and I still don't know if that title is going to be up my alley. Oh well, another month of solicits to parse before the first issue arrives. Ditto Junk Punch, also on its second issue, as is The Matron, where one of the characters loses their job when the owners sell their restaurant. At least there's no shortage of sources of resentment to fuel a murderous spree.

Generation X-23 has Laura trying to lead whichever members of the X-series are still alive by issue 6, and Moon Knight is teaming up with Blade to kill an evil building. D'Orc's trapped in a crystal and the solicit is promising a guest star, which worries me. I don't need this book tying into some other title I've got no interest in buying. If Marvel can't pull that stunt off successfully with me, Image hasn't got a prayer.