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 for April 2019.
Get your pull lists ready because it’s time to see all the other stuff going on in comics.
10. The Princess Returns
It’s not that Xena’s been gone or anything, but rather she has a new creative team taking on her legend. Vita Ayala and Olympia Sweetman are given the reins in another ’90s sword and sorcery adventure.
Xena: Warrior Princess #1
Written by Vita Ayala
Illustrated by Olympia Sweetman
Published by Dynamite EntertainmentIn a time of ancient gods, warlords and kings…a land in turmoil called out for a hero! She was XENA, a mighty princess forged in the heat of battle! In this all-new series, writer VITA AYALA (Black Panther, Wonder Woman, The Wilds) and artist OLYMPIA SWEETMAN throw Xena and her companion Gabrielle headfirst into a mysterious adventure. Can Xena discover the secrets of a village full of super-strong children, before jealous and petty GODS get involved?.
9. An Assassin Who Can’t Remember
In this latest offering from Shelly Bond’s Black Crown label, a tricked out assassin discovers she’s working for the worst of the worst. Bond has pushed her line for that weird, early-Vertigo sensibility. This looks like it’s all too happy to be added to that wild, confusing, trippy, bizarre, and ridiculously fun type.
Eve Stranger #1
Written by Davud Barnett
Illustrated by Philip Bond
Published by IDW’s Black CrownYou have unlimited funds, a jet-set lifestyle, and extraordinary abilities. And your bloodstream is filled with nano bombs. The contents of a syringe will deactivate them for a week and also wipe your memory. So what happens when you develop a sneaking suspicion that you’re actually working for the bad guys? EVE STRANGER, amnesiac-for-hire.
High-octane thrills!
Impossible missions!
Doomed romance!
8. Solomon Northup’s Sweet Badass Song
Pulp revenge goodness comes to life in this story from Fabien Nury and Brüno. It’s like 12 Years a Slave cross bred with Django Unchained. From the looks of its striking style, this will be an intense experience.
Atar Gull
Written by Fabien Nury
Illustrated by Brüno
Published by Titan ComicsA man forced into slavery seeks bitter revenge on those who stole his freedom! Fabien Nury, award-winning writer of the best-selling The Death of Stalin and Tyler Cross, tells a new story for fans of Django Unchained. Atar Gull is a prince among his people – until he is kidnapped by the ruthless Captain Brulart. Shipped to Jamaica and sold like livestock, he suffers pain, loss, and humiliation – but Atar Gull is a patient man, and his revenge will be served cold indeed.
7. Classics Continue
This is, overall, the 16th volume in Fantagraphics’ ongoing Carl Barks reprints. And it remains as delightful, influential, and wonderful as ever. This series is supposed to run at around 30 individual volumes, so this puts us at about the halfway mark.
Continued belowWalt Disney’s Uncle Scrooge: The Mines of King Solomon
Written and Illustrated by Carl Barks
Published by FantagraphicsWhen Uncle Scrooge decides to takes Donald and the nephews on a world tour to inspect the many businesses in his far-flung empire, he never dreamed he’d wind up uncovering the fabled lost treasure of the even-more fabled King Solomon! Then, to settle a bet over who’s the better salesman, Scrooge and Donald wind up in Southeast Asia – and Donald’s winning! Until Scrooge notices something unusual about the local architecture in “City of Golden Roofs.” And the Beagle Boys come calling again with a devious scheme to drill Scrooge’s money right out from under him! Plus: the oddball inventions of the ever-eccentric Gyro Gearloose! Carl Barks delivers another superb collection of clever plot twists, laugh-out-loud comedy, and all-around comic book brilliance.
6. Boy Genius
From the looks of it, “Young Mozart” seems to be an all-ages adventure romp. The concept of a baby Mozart discovering music while simultaneously having a playbook going is aces. But this is Humanoids. One thing’s for sure, it’ll probably be expressive and wonderful to look at.
Young Mozart
Written and Illustrated by William Augel
Published by HumanoidsEnter Young Mozart, the boy genius! Follow the many, real and imaginary, childhood adventures of the world’s greatest composer, as he finds inspiration in the most unexpected places! A journey filled with music and humor, that always ends on a high note! Included: Young Mozart’s Playbook. Play and learn with the musical legend!
5. Back on the Case, Another One for the Docket
Michael Avon Oeming has wanted to do a Dick Tracy story for over a decade. Finally, with IDW’s push to bring him back, it looks like he’s getting his chance. The Chester Gould world returns for another four-issue miniseries, filled with ridiculous character designs and dark alleys. I think I like the idea of IDW doing Tracy stories as minis, like how Dark Horse has approached “Aliens” recently. Gould left a lot of room for imaginative creators to maneuver.
Dick Tracy Forever #1
Written and Illustrated by Michael Avon Oeming
Published by IDWDick Tracy is Sisyphus, pushing the law boulder up the hill as he struggles for reason and order in a world with none. His attempts at law and order are met with crime and chaos, in the form of unpredictable and absurd villains. But Dick Tracy will never give up trying, no matter the era or incarnation. Join Eisner Award-winning creator Michael Avon Oeming on a startling case through time and space! From the mind of Eisner Award winner Michael Avon Oeming, co-creator of Powers!
4. Can Mary Shelley Get Any More Goth?
There hasn’t been anyone none more goth than Mary Shelley. I have no idea if Glass and Cuartero-Briggs’s story will take on a more gothic tone or go Kim Newman action extravaganza with this concept (judging from the solicit, it sounds like the latter). Regardless, long live Mary Shelley.
Mary Shelley: Monster Hunter #1
Written by Adam Glass and Olivia Cuartero-Briggs
Illustrated by Hayden Sherman
Published by AfterShock ComicsFor nearly two centuries, scholars have wondered how on earth Mary Shelley, a nineteen-year-old girl, was able to conjure one of the most frightening and enduring horror stories of all-time: Frankenstein.
But with the recent discovery of Mary Shelley’s secret memoir, the truth is finally revealed: Mary Shelley didn’t just write Frankenstein, she lived it. Traveling back to that historic Geneva winter of 1816, Mary, her fiancé Percy, sisters Claire and Fanny, and the celebrated poet Lord Byron, find themselves guests of the eerie Frankenstein Estate. The macabre and frightening events that follow lead Mary to both a gruesome and shocking discovery. Their mysterious host is not at all what they expected, and their intentions will change the course of Mary’s life for-ever.
Brought to life by Adam Glass (ROUGH RIDERS, THE NORMALS, THE LOLLIPOP KIDS) and Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (E TV’s The Arrangement) with art by Hayden Sherman (COLD WAR, The Few, Wasted Space), Mary Shelley: Monster Hunter is historical fiction at its most (After)shocking!
3. Steal Like an Artist
This gives me some Can You Ever Forgive Me? vibes. However, Pierre Van Hove’s thin-lined, open-figured style is definitely engrossing. And maybe he gets involved in a heist? What’s one theft over another? These bohemians need to get their significance somehow.
Continued belowMemoirs of a Book Thief
Written by Alessando Tota
Illustrated by Pierre Van Hove
Published by SelfmadeheroParis, the 1950s. Daniel Brodin – bibliophile, book thief, self-proclaimed poet – enters the heated atmosphere of the Cafe Serbier, home of the Parisian literati. Daniel impulsively puts himself forward for a poetry recitation. Under pressure, he recites not one of his own surrealist poems but an obscure piece of Italian verse he’s certain no one will know. It’s plagiarism, but it’s a triumph. Daniel’s recital marks his entrance into the Parisian avant-garde: a band of cultured rogues and pseudo-revolutionaries for whom life is a playground for art and planning a robbery has as much value as writing a book. In this milieu, the wine is good and the girls are beautiful. But can success last if it is founded on plagiarism and theft?
2. If There’s Only One Place to Talk Straight….
Ebony Flowers presents a short story collection centered around the lives and experiences of a group of black woman. She sets the whole thing around a hair salon, where these characters intersect and interact. Her style is energetic and kinetic, her perspective truthful and honest. It’s a literary cartoon filled with all the exuberance and tragedy of life.
Hot Comb
Written and Illustrated by Ebony Flowers
Published by Drawn & QuarterlyHot Comb offers a poignant glimpse into Black women’s lives and coming of age stories as seen across a crowded, ammonia-scented hair salon while ladies gossip and bond over the burn. The titular story is about a young girl’s first perm-a doomed ploy to look cool and to stop seeming “too white” in the all-black neighborhood her family has just moved to. Realizations about race, class, and the imperfections of identity swirl through Flowers’s stories, which are by turns sweet, insightful, and heartbreaking.
1. Cheating on the Devil
This sounds like Azzarello’s going totally bonkers, moving toward the more mythical mysticism of his “Wonder Woman” run (which is the best thing he’s ever done) and away from his noir-obsessions. Maria Llovet has a bizarre and eldritch style that seems perfect for this material. Her energetic art gives this material that extra push into cool. Add Paul Pope on covers for that last bit of spice.
Faithless #1
Written by Brian Azzarello
Illustrated by Maria Llovet
Published by BOOM! StudiosFaith. Sex. The Devil.
Faith likes to dabble with magic. Her friends think it’s cute-and not just a little off-putting, but it’s part of her charm and her warped search for purpose in a world that makes too much sense. But she’s a true believer and knows there is a power within her reach. She’s right, of course. It just took a while for that magic, that temptation, that unknowable thing to find her . . .
In short- Faith is bored as hell. And Hell has noticed.
New York Times bestselling writer Brian Azzarello ( 100 Bullets , Batman: Damned ) and artist Maria Llovet ( Loud ) with Eisner Award winning artist Paul Pope on covers coalesce in a story of self-exploration, eroticism, and maybe even love.
Well, that was fun! And let me know what books you’re excited for in the comments section.
