Hello and welcome to Multiversity’s look at the “Best of the Rest” of what’s coming your way in the now-available April 2023 Previews catalog. I’m excited to help you navigate the vast majority of what Diamond is offering via your LCS for the month of June 2023. Having already taken a look at what Marvel, DC, Image, and the Manga/Purple Previews sections have lined up for us, it’s now time to check out the other 75% of the catalog.
Let’s dive in!
10. Call Of The Wild!
Culbard and Abnett are back with another anthropomorphized tale of alien invasion! Between this and 2000AD‘s “Scarlet Traces” by Edginton & D’Israeli, the bar for British creators telling stories of invaders from beyond coming to Earth abd wreaking havoc is pretty high! Do yourself a favor and check out the 3 prior volumes before this series invades your LCS (though I trust Abnett & Culbard to make this issue read well enough for newcomers that such a review is unnecessary).
WILD’S END #1 (of 6)
Written by Dan Abnett
Art by I.N.J. Culbard
Published by BOOM! Studios
In Shops: Jun 21, 2023
SRP: $4.99Journey to alien-occupied interwar England, courtesy of the award-winning creative team of Dan Abnett (Warhammer 40K, Immortal Red Sonja) & I.N.J. Culbard (Salamandre, Tales From The Umbrella Academy), with Nik Abnett providing additional material!
Out at sea during the invasion, our intimate crew of unlucky voyagers returns to a world they once knew, their once-cozy seaside home now occupied by alien invaders.
Combining a rich cast of anthropomorphized characters in the tradition of Blacksad and aliens unlike any you’ve ever seen in the spirit of War of the Worlds meets Wind in the Willows! Wild’s End is a world unlike any other… one you won’t want to leave.
9. It’s Not The Size That Counts . . .
Never heard of this before now, but manga background is not a strong suit of mine. Thankfully Fantagraphics is givivg all of us slackers an opportunity to catch up. Plus I do enjoy raunchy, funny, moving stories with a single genre element dropped in for good measure.
MINAMI’S LOVER HC
Written and Drawn by Shungiku Uchida
Published by Fantagraphics Inc.
In Shops: Jun 28, 2023
SRP: $29.99
In this raunchy, moving, funny manga for adults, high school student Minami’s girlfriend, Chiyomi, shrinks down to six inches tall – and moves in with him! Originally appearing in the underground/alternative manga magazine Garo in the 1980s and adapted for television several times, the Japanese pop culture sensation Minami’s Lover is the story of two high schoolers’ romantic relationship when one of them shrinks down to six inches tall.
8. Caught In The Planetoid’s Gravity!
Last month I pointed out Dark Horse reprinting an EC collection in affordable softcover. This month I swing the spotlight over to the other major publisher putting out EC reprints (Fantagraphics) and why the two can successfully coexist in a crowded marketplace. DH’s book, lovely though they are, are essentially Marvel Masterworks for the EC series: archival full-color reproduction of full issues. These Fanta volumes are B&W and cull sinilar stories from multiple issues to provide a more curated, spotlight approach to the many different gems in the EC library. Something for everyone!
THE PLANETOID & OTHER STORIES HC
Written by Al Feldstein
Art by Joe Orlando
Published by Fantagraphics Inc.
In Shops: Jun 14, 2023
SRP: $35.00
Joe Orlando partnered with Wallace Wood on a variety of science fiction stories for EC Comics. The Planetoid And Other Stories collects his first two dozen. All of them, scripted by editor/writer Al Feldstein, serve up classic O. Henry-style shock endings. This volume also includes a complete reproduction of EC’s own 32-page “illustrated, factual flying saucer report,” with art by Orlando, Wallace Wood, George Evans, and Reed Crandall. Plus, a foreword by former DC publisher Paul Levitz, an introduction by Thommy Burns and featured essays and commentary by EC experts.
7. You Can’t Live That Long Without Making Some Enemies . . .
Continued below
Beyruth is making a name for himself in the North American market with work from Marvel and working with Dan DiDio on a book from Frank Miller’s new publishing venture. But it’s this reprint of his 2021 OGN from Titan (originally put out by Eurocomic publisher Soleil) that’s got me excited to see what he can do all on his own.
LOVE KILLS HC
Written and Drawn by Danilo Beyruth
Published by Titan Comics
In Shops: Sep 20, 2023
SRP: $24.99
A lone female vampire, Helena, stumbles into an alliance with Marcus, an unwitting human, when she’s attacked by a rival coven on the streets of Sao Paulo. But when what seems at first to be a simple fight over hunting territory quickly turns into a lethal game of cat and mouse, Helena is forced to confront a shocking past betrayal and battle for her very existence.
6. One Stop Noir Shop
Now Marini is someone I’ve definitely heard of. Yes, he drew a Batman OGN a few years ago and yes I’m sure its gorgeous. But he originally caught my eye with his sci-fi comic “Gipsy” serialized in mid-90s Heavy Metal Magazine. His art style pulls from multiple places at once so he gives you flavors of things without overloading you. So for this love letter to the genre, he’s calling on Toth and Timm but also Guardino and some Otomo as well. Titan scores again with bringing this work to us English speakers!
NOIR BURLESQUE HC
Written and Drawn by Enrico Marini
Published by Titan Comics
In Shops: Sep 06, 2023
SRP: $29.99
A heist gone wrong forces Slick to do a job for his employer, Rex, to repay the debt he owes. But Slick is in love with Caprice, Rex’s ex-call girl wife-turned-burlesque legend and Rex also has the only way for Slick to avenge his murdered father.
5. The R.I.G.H.T. Stuff!
I never thought I’d have a book by American Mythology on this list, but here we are…
The reason I’m putting this book here is because of the creative team. While at no point in their decades-long collaboration with each other has their output ever been described as “innovative” or “unique”, these three gentlemen combine for at least a century’s worth of comic booking, and superhero comic booking at that. DeFalco and Frenz have been putting out Kirby/Romita hybrid stories in the Mighty Marvel Manner since I started reading comics, and no offense to his brother John, but Sal is the Buscema most associated with drawing comics the Marvel way in my book.
So while I’m confident this comic will break zero new ground on any front, I can’t find it anywhere in my heart not to give a tip of my cap to these guys for continuing to do what they’ve been great at for sooooo long.
(Also, I’m 99% sure the “right” in the title is being used in the ‘good’ sense and not the ‘conservative’ sense, so Messrs Frenz, Buscema, and DeFalco aren’t pulling a Chuck Dixon/American Power on us, as far as I can tell . . . )
Continued belowTHE R.I.G.H.T. PROJECT #1
Written by Tom DeFalco
Art by Ron Frenz & Sal Buscema
Published by American Mythology Productions
In Shops: Jun 28, 2023
SRP: $3.99
At last! A super-hero for anyone who sincerely loves super-heroes. A teenage video-gamer joins a digital daredevil for truth, justice and a universe of Hoo-HA action & angst. While working on the R.I.G.H.T. Project, an attempt to develop a new technology that allows computer constructs to assume physical mass, Doctor Dex Click stumbles upon the new champ of split-second adventure. But Mr. R.I.G.H.T. is little more than a soulless animatronic until he bonds with Jeffrey “Player One” Lopez. Since Jeffrey is a true believer, he helps transform a heartless avatar into a compassionate and relentless hero-the true hero who lives within us all! A comic book in the mode of DeFalco & Frenz’s Spider-Girl, Spider-Man, Thor, Thunderstrike and A-Next!
4. Not Your Matt Wagner’s Mage!
In Spike (Trotman, Iron Circus Comics publisher) We Trust.
MAGE & THE ENDLESS UNKNOWN GN
Written and Drawn by S.J. Miller
Published by Iron Circus Comix
In Shops: Jun 21, 2023
SRP: $15.00
Peek through the leaves, beyond the clouded mountains, you will find a garden with a strange attendant and an even stranger purpose. Follow the wordless Mage and his companions as they travel through a shadowy and fantastical land full of monsters. Will they survive this curious quest, or will the darkness swallow them whole?
3. Gone Too Soon
The only thing keeping this from being higher on the list is the (admittedly justified) high price tag. As the soicit mentions, O’Neill absolutely was one of the most unique artists in comics history (did you know he’s only artist ever rejected by the Comics Code Authority just for his art style alone?) and I think one of the few artists to achieve a real level of success in American comics without being a direct disciple of Kirby/Adams/Ditko/Buscema. Although his 2000AD work came at the beginning of his career, there are still mindblowing pages to be gleaned from this book. Anything celebrating a talent like O’Neill in this detail is worthy of praise and worthy of your attention.
THE 2000AD ART OF KEVIN O’NEILL: APEX EDITION HC
Written by Various
Art by Kevin O’Neill
Published by Rebellion/2000AD
In Shops: Aug 02, 2023
SRP: $155.00
An incredible insight into the art of one of comics’ most unique talents, The 2000 AD Art of Kevin O’Neill: Apex Edition contains art from 1977 through to 2022. From concept sketches of 2000 AD’s alien editor Tharg the Mighty to complete episodes of Ro-Busters and A.B.C. Warriors, and previously unseen versions of his Nemesis the Warlock: The Final Conflict pages. Also included are his never before reprinted Metalzoic covers and the entirety of his final sequential work on Bonjo From Beyond The Stars. The Apex Edition is a deluxe, over-sized facsimile edition, and this 160-page collection has been compiled by O’Neill from his own archive, reproducing his original art pages at their actual size. This is an unmissable testament to his remarkable career.
2. From The Den!
From the folks that brought Mutant World back into print comes the next work from Richard Corben’s career to be rescued from out-of-print oblivion: Den!
DEN Vol. 1 HC
Written and Drawn by Richard Corben
Published by Dark Horse Comics
In Shops: Aug 09, 2023
SRP: $34.99
The first volume presenting the long-out-print masterpiece Den, by fantasy legend Richard Corben! This special edition also features bonus material, art pages restored by long-time Corben collaborator José Villarrubia, new lettering by Nate Piekos of Blambot, and an introduction by Patton Oswalt, all presented in a gorgeous hardcover with a dust jacket. Thrust into a bizarre fantasy world called Neverwhere, the muscular adventurer Den goes on an exotic adventure through ancient ruins meeting an evil queen, her sacrificial doppelganger, bizarre lizard men, giant insects, and more strange and dangerous madness in this legendary saga brimming with horror, magic, and violence. The inspiration for the Den segment of the cult classic film, Heavy Metal!
1. The Future Is Now!
Everyone get ready to take a drink because I’ve put another anthology comic on the list. But when you look at the creator list, can you blame me? The art side alone: Nick Cagnetti AND Phil Hester AND Shaky Kane??? (No offense to Irizarri but I’m drawing a blank on their work at the moment…) plus it’s oversized so there’s room to breathe. Double plus is Phil Hester drawing AND writing, something we don’t get nearly enough of.
XINO #1
Written by Melissa Flores, Chris Condon, Phil Hester, Jordan Thomas
Art by Nick Cagnetti, Phil Hester, Daniel Irizarri, Shaky Kane
Published by Oni Press, Inc.
In Shops: Jun 14, 2023
SRP: $5.99
Because the future is getting weirder everyday, we give you XINO #001-the first of three OVERSIZED, 40-PAGE intra-ocular lozenges of subversive, surrealist science-fiction to cure your awful awareness of it all. Try not to worry — the insertion process will be guided by the megawatt brilliance of Oni’s brightest talents (past, present, and future) as they slowly tune your hopes, dreams, desires, paranoia, alienation, anxiety, and adrenaline to produce the desired results.
In our first exploratory outing: Rising stars Melissa Flores (The Dead Lucky, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) & Daniel Irizarri (Judge Dredd) surgically activate the hidden dimensions of the human senses; cult phenoms Christopher Condon (That Texas Blood) and Nick Cagnetti (Pink Lemonade) debut the world’s first intravenous video game system; Underground radicals Jordan Thomas (Weird Work) and Shaky Kane (Bulletproof Coffin) surveil the suburbs for signs of covert infiltration, and master cartoonist and foundational Oni creator Phil Hester (Gotham City: Year One, The Coffin) returns to the fold to leave his deepest mark yet!
Be sure to let us know what books YOU’RE excited for in the Comments section!
