Hello and welcome to Multiversity’s look at the “Best of the Rest,” where we try to summarize what’s coming your way from pretty much every other comic publisher besides Marvel, Dark Horse, DC, and Image this December 2018.
Get your pull lists ready, it’s time to see all the other stuff going on in comics.
10. Into the White
There’s always something that endears us toward the Arctic. A fascination with that wide open white space, a sureness that something horrible is lurking just out of view. I’m not sure if this is based on a true story or not but it’s sure to be a thrill ride.
The Cabinet
Written by Christian Sager
Illustrated by Kelly Williams
Published by Source Point PressOn a doomed 1901 mission to the arctic Northwest Passage, a “shadow cabinet” of social outcasts opposing America’s government find horror and madness that leads them to the assassination of the President of the United States.
9. Down This Dark Alley
You can count on Hard Case Crime for publishing intense and well written thrillers. There’s the pulp allure yet handled by competent storytellers. They’ve teamed up with Titan (note: Multiversity Comics does have people who work for Titan on their staff, who are no way involved with this article) for this gangster thriller, which looks lurid, horrifying, and an overall blast of a book.
Tyler Cross: Angola
Written by Fabien Nury
Illustrated by Brüno
Published by Titan Comics
A GRITTY 1950s GANGSTER THRILLER!
Angola: a high-security prison, surrounded by deadly swamps, run by a brutal crime family.
Tyler Cross is the toughest trafficker in the US, but when a risk-free gig sends him to hell, his life sentence could be a death sentence!
8. Ghost Dishes
I’m glad that as more and more independent and alternative publishers appear in the industry, we also get to see more and more books for our different experiences. Lion Forge has been great about appealing toward younger readers who may just be learning they identify as queer. This one seems like a heartbreaking but relatable tale.
Taproot
Written and Illustrated by Keezy Young
Published by Lion ForgeBlue is having a hard time moving on. He’s in love with his best friend. He’s also dead. Luckily, Hamal can see ghosts, leaving Blue free to haunt him to his heart’s content. But something eerie is happening in town, leaving the local afterlife unsettled, and when Blue realizes Hamal’s strange ability may be putting him in danger, Blue has to find a way to protect him, even if it means… leaving him.
7. From the Depths of Despair with Wild Hair
Fantagraphics issued this collection of Jason Karns’s zines and minicomics. These collections are typically weird and boundary-pushing. Not only that, but it’s always fascinating to see how a cartoonist grows and develops over a long period of time.
Fukitor
Written and Illustrated by Jason Karns
Published by Fantagraphics BooksJason Karns’s Fukitor is an attack of a different kind: reprinted from the artist’s self-published zine, the book is a 144 page compilation of full color comics that reside uneasily between a straight and satirical response to the violence, xenophobia, and sexual and racial stereotypes found in pop culture.
6.
All the usual Alan Moore hallmarks are on display in this comic, adapted from a story he wrote some time back. Felipe Massafera’s art is way more hyper-real and objective than what I care for in comic work, but maybe the high rendering of the paintings are what’s needed to truly sell this story.
Continued belowLight of Thy Countenance
Written by Alan Moore and Antony Johnson
Illustrated by Felipe Massafera
Published by Avatar Press IncAlan Moore, master and magician of storytelling, tears back the veil of one of the most arcane of enchantments — The Magic of Television. Part grimoire, part grim invocation of things that are all too ordinary, this beautiful 48-page novella is stunningly painted by Felipe Massafera. Maureen Cooper is not real. She is an apparition summoned to screens, into homes, into the hearts and mind of the viewing audience by Carol Livesly. But Carol Livesly is not the god that creates the illusions that capture the mind and bind the soul. She is only a servant of a higher power. A higher, hungry power, as old as the world and eternally new. As, perhaps, are we all… LIGHT OF THY COUNTENANCE, an original and breathtaking story by Alan Moore, has been adapted to graphic novella format by Antony Johnston preserving every word, and each page has been painstakingly painted by Felipe Massafera to create this comics masterpiece. Available in a standard Softcover and a limited edition Hardcover, of just 2000 copies, both with covers by Massafera.
5. The Summoning
In case you missed it, here’s the collected set of Ulisses Farinas and Erick Freltas’s insane old gods story. The imagination on display here is ridiculous.
Cloudia & Rex
Written by Ulises Farinas and Erick Freltas
Illustrated by Daniel Irizarri
Published by Lion ForgeA lushly rendered supernatural fantasy that follows two girls and their mother who find themselves in the middle of a vast, supernatural exodus. On their journey Cloudia is bestowed the powers of hundreds of different gods, but even those don’t help her come to terms with the death of her father.
4.
Futures are often thought to be dour affairs. Amigo Comics, however, is promising a more bright and exciting affair in this new graphic novel. It seems like another thing that’s trying to fill the void left by Adventure Time, but maybe now without that show on the air, I’m just seeing remnants of it everywhere. In any event, Amigo tends to gear their work toward younger readers and it sounds like they’ll be delighted by this.
2200: The Adventures of Fran and Picky
Written and Illustrated by Louie de Martinis & Dani Blanc
Published by Amigo ComicsPlanet Earth, year 2200. Fran awakes in a deserted funfair, next to a speaking bird called Picky, and they will become adventure mates. This is an original story that will make you enjoy the future.
3. Tis the Season
Grant Morrison and Dan Mora’s dashing rogue Santa is back in time for the holidays. It sounds like Morrison and Mora are riffing on the old Rankin/Bass formulas and, well, that’s as part the holidays as anything.
Klaus and the Crying Snowman #1
Written by Grant Morrison
Illustrated by Dan Mora
Published by BOOM! StudiosThe best holiday tradition in comics returns in the next chapter of the epic Santa saga by visionary Grant Morrison and Eisner Award-nominated artist Dan Mora!
Klaus has to help an absentee dad-turned-snowman make amends before melting away for good. And probably before he’s defeated by a pantheon of Norse Gods and their minions. All in a day’s work for Santa Claus.
2. On the Riverdale Side
The last “Betty & Veronica” was a disaster. A dumpster fire so bad Adam Hughes literally opened one of the issues with a dumpster on fire. But these two characters are some of the most fun in all of comic-dom and I’m hoping the creators here can find that chemistry and rapport that makes Betty and Veronica so enduring.
Betty & Veronica #1
Written by Jamie Rotante
Illustrated by Sandra Lanz & Kelly Fitzpatrick
Published by Archie ComicsBRAND NEW SERIES! “Senior Year, Pt. 1: Summer” – Betty and Veronica go where they’ve never gone before-their senior year of high school! Only one school year stands between them and freedom, but when the two BFFs think they’ll be attending the same college in the fall find out that their plans have changed, their senior year-and their friendship-is put to the test!
1. Onward and Upward
The Rocketeer is one of those properties that seems to have a wild surge of popularity before disappearing into the oblivion, only to come back with a fierce resurgence. This new series jumps ahead in time instead of rebooting the series. There’s some interesting talent in the creative team and I think they might tap into something cool.
The Rocketeer Reborn #1
Written by Elsa Charretier & Pierrick Colinet
Illustrated by Javier Pulido
Published by IDW PublishingA Rocketeer for a new century!
It’s been 80 years since Cliff Secord first found an experimental jet pack and soared through the skies as The Rocketeer, becoming a hero along the way.
Now, decades later, The Rocketeer is all but forgotten, a legend of a bygone era-until Cliff’s jet pack is found, but in a most unexpected way-one that causes conflict for several people, each of whom are drawn to the jet pack… some for good and some for evil!
A pulp-inspired modern-day adventure!
First female Rocketeer!
Well, that was fun! And let me know what books YOU’RE excited for in the comments section.
