PREVIEWS FOR BOOKS ARRIVING IN OCTOBER

Well as promised here I am with the first of my Previews Picks. Each month, shortly after the new issue of Previews arrives in the store I sit down and run through all the first issues and stories of note. I'll try to add as much personal comment as I can to give you an idea of how I feel about the book in question. If you have any questions or comments to add, feel free to do so, and to any customers out there, please let me or your own comic shop retailer know when you are interested in something, we may not order it, if we don't know you want it.

Mike Mignola has been working over time lately with Hellboy, BPRD, and even a Lobster Johnson mini-series, so it’s no surprise that he’s not personally attached to the animated stories. Still these are great little adventures suitable for all ages. Hellboy animated vol.3 features 2 stories, one with the big guy himself and the second focusing on Abe Sapien.

I totally freaked out when the big two companies first started doing their huge B&W compendiums. What comic fan doesn’t love grabbing 500+ pages of classic material for less than 20 bucks? One of the biggest disappointments however was when Marvel only got out 1 vol. of Essential Conan before losing the rights. Well now Dark Horse is jumping in, and starting off with Savage Sword of Conan. That’s right all of that wonderful savagery brought to us first in the 70’s is coming at us again in chronological order, including Conan’s appearances from Savage Tales magazine, just to make your collection complete. And the beauty is, all that gorgeous art by Windsor-Smith, Alcala, Marcos and more was originally B&W so it won’t look odd the way some of the superhero stuff does without its colour.

DC is really pumping out the Countdown crossovers and spin-offs. They’ve been losing people on the regular weekly story due to the fact it seems to be moving nowhere, slowly, maybe they should have worked in some of the spin-off stories to help move the weekly book along. Anyway Countdown Presents Lord Havok has Jason Todd, Donna Troy, Kyle Rayner and BOB the monitor (love the name they gave him) meet up with a violent militaristic group of heroes? from Earth 8. The art is by Liam Sharpe so at least it looks good.

Countdown Presents the Search for Ray Palmer: Crime Syndicate #1 is certainly the longest title of any new book in recent memory and the sub-heading implies that this is some kind of mini-series within a series of mini-series. The dimension hoping Todd, Troy, Rayner and Bob (sounds like my kind of law firm) head to the Earth where heroes are villains and vice-versa. I can't believe Sean McKeever left Marvel to write this stuff.
Captain Carrot is back!!, if only for 3 issues. Then again, while the original book was fun, if a little to punny in spots, 3 issues is probably just about the right length.
Captain Carrot and the Final Ark #1 sends the Justa Lotta Animals gang to the Sandy Eggo Comic Con, see what I mean about punny?

Batman and the Outsiders #1 gives us the official line up of DC's latest remake of a classic team book. During the 5 week event running through August we'll get to see all of the Dark Knights reasons for choosing the final members of his team. The idea of the ultimate loner banding together all the outcasts of the DC universe into a cohesive unit seems like a task doomed from the start, but with a cool line up including Metamorpho and Martian Manhunter, I'll definitely be putting this one at the top of my read pile.

Black Canary recently left Birds of Prey and Green Arrow's comic was cancelled, but now the 2 are back in 1 book, Green Arrow/Black Canary #1, although judging by the cover, it may not be the Green Arrow we were expecting. Still DC probably doesn't want to give out to much info on this issue as it comes on the heel of the various wedding specials in September. I'm mixed on this title as I really loved Simone's portrayal of Dinah in Birds and Winick(the writer of this title) has always been hit or miss for me. I'll have to watch sales on this one closely after the first issue.

The Death of the New Gods #1 had to be by Jim Starlin, no one else can do cosmic like Starlin. It seems odd however that’s it’s taken so long for this book to appear . The New God, Lightray seemingly fell to his death in Countdown #48 more than 2 months ago, and hasn’t been explored or even mentioned really since! This is another instance of DC leaving Countdown readers hanging with the feeling of not getting any kind of real story for their money. I’m not saying these 8-issues won’t be a thrill and well worth the cash, but it definitely will leave the weekly Countdown series looking even paler in comparison.

Crime Bible: The Five Lessons of Blood #1, YOW! DC must be paying their writers by the word. How else to explain the need for these huge titles that seem to run on forever. The odd thing is this is the long awaited first story arc for the new Question, straight out of 52. And yet her name appears nowhere in the title itself!! I guess calling the book Question #1 seemed to simple for the new DC. Title oddities aside, the team of Greg Rucka and Tom Mandrake are going to give us a hell of story here that I’m going to push on everyone who comes in the store. I’m so sure of the potential of this book that any member who adds it to their list here at the store or on-line, before the first of October, can have the first issue FREE with the option to take it off their list if they are not happy with what they see.