Soliciting Multiversity: Image’s August 2012

You’ve seen DC. You’ve seen Dark Horse. You’ve even see Marvel. Now it’s time for MC’s favorite publisher to get the spotlight: Image Comics!

Every month I switch the column up. I used to write about individual titles, but last month there was so much to be excited about I just posted the solicits. This month I move back to the writing style to take a look at a few choice solicits. I can’t give everything a spotlight, though, so the column will end with “Matt’s Pull,” a full list of everything Image I will be reading in August. You can judge from there.

For the full solicits, you can peep right over here.

Black Kiss Returns

I still haven’t read Howard Chaykin’s supposedly controversial series, but I’ve never heard anything but good things about it. I’ve heard its a bit extreme, but that’s an important work in Chaykin’s career let alone comics in general, and as a fan of comics and Chaykin, I’ve always meant to give it a look.

August brings the sequel to this book more than two decades after the fact, and given how far we’ve gone as a culture in our acceptance of sex and violence in media, I can only imagine what Chaykin has planned to push the boundaries again. I expect it’ll be pretty grand.

The Return of the Atomics (Kind Of!)

August sees the release of “It Girl and the Atomics” by Jamie S. Rich and Mike Norton. I’ve had a peep at the first issue back when Multiversity scooped the announcement of the title and we subsequently e-mailed Jamie about the book, and I can tell you that if you have ever been a fan of Mike Allred’s seminal series and creation then you’re going to enjoy It Girl’s solo jaunt. The first issue is a fun series that matches the tone of the Allred book, and while there’s no Madman in it (yet) it will certainly be a book that fits in well with all your favorite Madman issues.

Speaking of Mike Norton, though…

If You Haven’t Pre-Ordered Revival Yet, Please Do So For Your Own Sake

I’ll be writing more about this book next week, but until that happens take my word for it: “Revival” is going to be just as great of a series as any of other Image staples. With one issue alone, the book is up there for me right next to “Saga” and “Manhattan Projects” as one of my favorite new Image debuts. This issue seems like it’ll be truly great, and I can’t imagine that it won’t be given the creative team behind it. You’d be doing yourself a lot of favors by picking this up.

Two More New #1s

In addition to the two books I’ve mentioned, there will also be two brand new series on the shelves from Image. However, I’m unfamiliar with both titles so I can’t say too much about them beyond just letting you know they exist.

With that in mind, take a look at the solicits to get an idea of what you’re in for.

THINK TANK #1
story MATT HAWKINS
art / cover RAHSAN EKEDAL & BRIAN REBER
AUGUST 1
32 PAGES / BW / T+
STANDARD
$3.99
FIGHTING THE MAN… WITH SCIENCE!
Dr. David Loren is many things: child prodigy, inventor, genius, slacker… mass murderer. When a military think tank’s smartest scientist decides he can no longer stomach creating weapons of destruction, will he be able to think his way out of his dilemma or find himself subject to the machinations of smaller men?

HARVEST#1 (of 5)
story AJ LIEBERMAN
art & cover COLIN LORIMER
AUGUST 1
32 PAGES / FC / M
$3.50
Human traffickers. Rogue medical teams. Yakuza-run organ mills and a six-year-old drug fiend. Welcome to Dr. Benjamin Dane’s nightmare. His only way out? Bring down the man who set him up by reclaiming organs already placed in some very powerful people. If Dexter, ER and 100 Bullets had a three-way and that mind-blowing tryst somehow resulted in a kid, that kid would read HARVEST. Medical Grade Revenge.
Continued below

TAG: New from the author of Cowboy Ninja Viking and Term Life!

The Milkman Murders Rerelease Arrives

I’m a big fan of Joe Casey, but there is a good deal of work by him that I’ve never read. Things like “Nixon’s Pals”, “Charlatan’s Ball” and “the Milkman Murders” are books I’ve always wanted to read but cold never find at my local shops for whatever reason — either I was too late to hear about them, or they had underordered, or whatever.

The other day, I came across a copy of the original “Milkman Murders” collection and I was elated. Here was one of the books I had always meant to read but never gotten the chance to. However, after pausing, I put the book back on the shelf.

Why? Because I remembered Image would be re-releasing a deluxe hardcover of the miniseries in full color. When, I didn’t know, but I knew it was coming.

That time is August. Bring it on.

Seriously, How Great Is Danger Club?

We’ve been saying it a whole bunch on the site lately (it was our Pick of the Week last week and our Friday Rec), but it is worth repeating: “Danger Club” is a fun and fast-paced fresh take on an old genre. It is definitely a title you should be reading if you’re a superhero fan and are looking for something similar yet different to the mainstream classics (so to say).

Truthfully, I consider this my ultra-violent replacement for “Glastone’s Academy of World Conquerors,” so think about it sort of like that if you enjoyed “Gladstone’s” as much as I did.

I’d Like To Interest You In Hoax Hunters

We’ve got a nifty little ad up for the book on our site (that you may or may not have noticed), but I figured I could take a minute to tell you that “Hoax Hunters” is assuredly one of the titles you should be looking forward to grabbing this year. If you enjoy Ghost Hunters and have ever wished it was a bit more real, or a bit more X-Files-esque, “Hoax Hunters” is for you.

Plus, you see that guy on the cover? The astronaut with all the crows? He’s a main character in the book. How do you not want to read more about that from just the visual alone?

Oh, Geez. That Morning Glories Cover Is Something.

That’s … well, huh. That’s something, isn’t it? I wonder what that’s all about.

The solicit for the issue, by the way, reads “The Ceremony.” Remember that, from back in issue #2? I’d wager we’re going to get a David issue here, and that is exciting and terrifying.

Wait, What?! Pigs Is Ending?!

I love “Pigs.” Ben McCool and Nate Cosby together are like a comic-book writing buddy-flick. Yet, I will selfishly admit that when I signed up to be a reader of “Pigs,” I expected ongoing not to mean just 12 issues. I thought I’d be reading this for a good, long while! What happened?!

Oh, wait. The solicit says “Next month: WHITE RUSSIAN.” Series relaunch is it, then?

Ken Garing Is Going To Be Huge

I’ve read the first issue of “Planetoid” (and you can too via Graphicly!), and I came away very impressed. It’s a solid sci-fi wanderer story like Image’s “Prophet” (albeit less ethereal conceptually), and the art is incredibly beautiful. Garing is really proving himself as one of the Talents to Watch in 2012, let alone in the future when he moves on to new projects, and “Planetoid” is definitely going to excite a lot of people when it hits stands. If you haven’t checked it out on Graphicly yet, you might want to give it a go (if only so that when the book does come out, you can brag about how you liked it and Garing before he was “cool” or something).

Matt’s Pull List