COMICS THAT READERS WON’T SEE FOR MONTHS… THIS IS SUCH A WEIRD HOBBY…


KC Carlson and his hired muscle.

KC Carlson and his hired muscle.


A KC COLUMN by KC Carlson

Here we go with some timely (?) suggestions for the August (for October shipping) PREVIEWS — in shops TODAY!

DC COMICS

Basketful of Heads #1

Basketful of Heads #1


I’m not a huge fan of horror comics, but I will be taking a look at the new Hill House Comics. Conceived by Joe Hill (NOS4A2 and Locke & Key), the line debuts on October 30 (the day before Halloween) with the six-issue miniseries Basketful of Heads #1, written by Hill and illustrated by Leomacs. There’s also a back-up feature (“Sea Dogs”) which will “sail across all the Hill House titles!” In the following months those new titles like The Low, Low Woods, The Dollhouse Family, Daphne Byrne, and Plunge will debut. Please see the new DC Previews for more details and samples. These don’t sound like traditional horror comics, so I might actually like this…

The Joker: Year of the Villain #1

The Joker: Year of the Villain #1


The Joker: Year of the Villain #1 is co-written by John Carpenter and Anthony Burch. You may have seen some of director Carpenter’s films before he broke into comics!

The Batman’s Grave #1

The Batman’s Grave #1


In The Batman’s Grave, written by Warren Ellis, the World’s Greatest Detective must try to inhabit the mind of a murder victim to solve a case. Ellis joins frequent artist partner Bryan Hitch (with Kevin Nowlan!) for this new 12-issue series. Can Batman imagine the life of a corpse with a half-eaten face without dying himself? I don’t know, but I’d like to find the anonymous writer that put that description in my brain!

Birds of Prey #1

Birds of Prey #1


Birds of Prey #1 — Always happy to see Birds of Prey returning to the ongoing DC Comics line-up, starring an ever-changing combination of DC’s best female heroes. It started way back in 1996, when Black Canary and the former Batgirl (Barbara Gordon, as Oracle) came together to fight crime in Gotham City. Longtime readers recall that this series gave the (then) recently crippled Batgirl a new way to fight back. Huntress was also a semi-regular character, and the series has had around 20 other cast members (most notably Lady Blackhawk, Big Barda, Judomaster, Katana, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, and even males such as Blue Beetle, Nightwing, and Wildcat). DC’s Secret Six super-team also provided much to the rotating membership. This new series is written by Brian Azzarello and art and covers are by Emanuela Lupacchino and Ray McCarthy, with the first issue also having a card stock variant by J. Scott Campbell.

Metal Men #1

Metal Men #1


The Metal Men also reappear in a new 12-issue series beginning in October, by the creative team of writer Dan DiDio (better known for his day job running the publishing company) and artists Shane Davis and Michelle Delecki. Fictionally created by Dr. Will Magnus, the Metal Men were supposed to be “normal” robots, but their Responsometers were a little bit dicey (as were many of Magnus’ inventions), and the robotic Metal Men ended up with emotions and feelings just like regular humans. Tina (Platinum) was the only member initially with a “human” name, and she became more “human” when she fell in love with Magnus. Interestingly, the original Metal Men series stood alone, as the characters pretty much stayed apart from the rest of the DC Universe until much later than other series. The original run was cancelled before the 1960s ended, although it was occasionally (and unsuccessfully) revived from time to time. This new series involves more current DC touchstones, such as the Dark Multiverse.

Secrets of Sinister House #1

Secrets of Sinister House #1


Secrets of Sinister House #1: Just in time for Halloween, DC revives one of their classic horror series titles for an 80-Page Prestige Format anthology — although this time around classic DC characters (like Harley Quinn, Detective Chimp, Zatanna, John Constantine, and the Atom) are actively participating. Are you ready for the classic dreaded vampire Batman? Creators include Paul Dini, Rafael Albuquerque, and more, with a cover by John Romita, Jr. and Bill Sienkiewicz.

MARVEL COMICS

X-Men #1

X-Men #1


X-Men 1: Well, I had hoped to be able to write a bit about this new X-Men title written by Jonathan Hickman and illustrated by Leinil Yu that’s debuting this November. But pretty much everywhere I looked on the internet for info about this series, I was bombarded by various electronic garbage. I don’t know if Marvel’s being hacked, but I do notice that they’re also not always doing a great job in mentioning the complete creative teams in Marvel Previews. (Unless the omnipresent “TBA” is writing and drawing much of Marvel’s output this month.) Good luck, Marvel Maniacs! Marvel’s not making it easy for you (or us) these days!

Marvel Monograph: The Art of Stuart Immonen

Marvel Monograph: The Art of Stuart Immonen


One Marvel thing I can wholeheartedly recommend is Marvel Monograph: The Art of Stuart Immonen. This 112-page trade paperback is packed with Immonen’s great work on titles like cult-favorite Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E., Thor, Incredible Hulk, New Avengers, All-New X-Men, and Amazing Spider-Man! Good, good stuff!!! (Hey, DC: Where’s your Immonen collection? Need me to make a list for ya?)

Amazing Mary Jane #1

Amazing Mary Jane #1


Well, this should be interesting. A non-superhero female character is getting her own ongoing series in Amazing Mary Jane #1! (Or is it? The description says both “ongoing series” and “five fabulous issues”. Holy Proofreading Gaff!) Well, I hope it’s an ongoing, because MJ has been one of the best and coolest supporting characters of all time, and she deserves a solo shot! This first issue is by Leah Williams and Carlos Gomez and is packed to the staples with action, glamor, grit, and sass. And unbeknownst to MJ, Mysterio is secretly messing with her!

Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle

Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle


Amazing Spider-Man: Full Circle is one of those one-shots that could go either way. It looks like one of these “round robin” kind of storylines that involves a lot of creators trying to jam-up the folks behind them. (All in good fun, of course.) You make the call: it’s 96 pages long, and the list of people working on it has over 20 creators involved, including Nick Spencer, Jonathan Hickman, Gerry Duggan, Al Ewing, Chip Zdarsky, Kelly Thompson, Jason Aaron, Chris Bachalo, Chris Sprouse, Greg Smallwood, Michael Allred, Rachel Scott, Valerio Schiti, Cameron Stewart, and Mark Bagley. Amazingly, there’s no mention of any plot or storylines, although artwork depicts a Spider-Bear (?), Spider-Wolf, Spider-Ham, Nick Fury (in a room filled with apparently dead people), a Werewolf Mary Jane, Wolverine and Spidey at a fair, a birthday party for Aunt May (didn’t she die?), and probably some things just too scary to show us!

Savage Sword of Conan #10

Savage Sword of Conan #10


Savage Sword of Conan #10: Most people who know me well know that Conan is probably my least-liked character at Marvel. (I’m just not a barbarian fan, I guess…) So, it would take something really special to get me to read an issue of Savage Sword of Conan. And that really special thing is to have Alan Davis draw it. (I note that there’s no inker listed. Hope Mark Farmer’s on board!) The issue also apparently brings back Roy Thomas as the writer! Double cool! Wish there was some detail whether this is a multi-issue storyline or just a one-off! Marvel’s copywriters are really letting me down this month…

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KC CARLSON Sez: Update: finally read all of Heroes in Crisis, although issue #4 made me so angry that I stopped reading comics altogether for a week. Of course I had already bought the rest of the run, so stopping was kinda useless, since DC already got my money. (sigh)

WESTFIELD COMICS is not responsible for the stupid things that KC says. Especially that thing that really irritated you. Yeah, take that, DC… (sigh)