Yesterday I took my magnifying glass to Dark Horse’s solicits, and today I turn the Previews page and look at what Image Comics has to offer you and I in May of 2012. There is a whole heaping of great stuff here, so prepare to queue up some new books in your pull.
Check out the full Image solicits with exclusive previews here.
Five New Books (Well, Four and a Relaunch)
Mind the Gap, by Jim McCan, Rodin Esqueo and Sonia Oback, a “whodunit?” thriller about a girl attacked in a subway.
Dancer, by Nate Edmondson and Nic Klein, about a retired assassin and a ballerina on the run from a sniper.
Epic Kill, by Raffaele Ienco, about an eighteen-year-old assassin versus the world.
Grim Leaper, by Kurtis Wiebe and Aluisio Santos, about two lost souls who find love amidst their repeated death and rebirths.
The return of Youngblood, by John McLaughlin, Jon Malin and Rob Liefeld (which I am more excited for than most people will readily accept).
It’s a damn fine time to be stalking the Image shelf of our LCS.
Nate Fox Covers With The Best Of Them
Nate Fox is one of my favorite artists, and I couldn’t be more excited to read Haunt on a monthly basis of only for his art. The above cover, featuring the twisted amalgamation of the creature we know as Haunt and the all-new “Lady Haunt”, is a perfect example of why.
Ulises Farinas Is A Beast!
Again just a note to show-off the talent of an artist, but seriously — look at that freaking Glory cover! Did you kill enough things there, Glory? Is your lust for blood satisfied, Keatinge? If this is the outside, I can only imagine what Ross Campbell is doing on the inside.
Wait, Hold Up — How Did I Miss This?
I like to pretend that I’m pretty much on the “up and up” when it comes to what is going on in the comic world, let alone the Image world, but somehow I completely screwed up and missed what looks to be a rather entertaining title.
A brutal bang-up super-action title from the creators of the all-ages title Supergirl’s Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, May sees the second issue of a new series called Danger Club by Landry Walker and Eric Jones, and after googling the book and checking out a short preview, I think this is going to be quite fun. Domino masks galore!
The Strange Talent Of Cassie Hack
It looks like Justin Jordan, who will spend probably the rest of his career with people making punny jokes about “strange talent” this and “strange talent” that (or just “strange”) is hopping into Tim Seeley’s book Hack/Slash to tell an arc.
While I’m not a big fan of the book in general, I know this: Jordan currently writes a book featuring an all-out gore-filled slug-fest, and that seems perfect for a book called Hack/Slash which features a cover starring its central antagonist about to beat on a few freaks in masks while wielding a bat with nails in it that reads “suck it.”
Riley Rossmo Designs Really Unsettling Covers
Ok, one more topic just to show off a cover:
Seriously. Look at that. I have high hopes for the entire run of Rebel Blood.
Continued below
Two Issues Of The Walking Dead, You Say?
What is this, a Marvel series? (Insert rimshot here)
All kidding aside, though, this “Something To Fear” arc will supposedly bring Daryl into the book. If that means it should be double shipped, I won’t complain!
And The Rest…
I made a similar remark last time I did this, but it bears repeating that Image has the most books I’m excited to read out of any publisher at the moment. In terms of May alone, we have (deep breath):
The Activity, America’s Got Powers, Bulletproof Coffin: Disinterred, Chew, Danger Club, Fatale, Glory, Hack/Slash, Haunt, Hell Yeah, Invincible Li’l Depressed Boy, Manhattan Projects, Morning Glories, Mudman, Near Death, Peter Panzerfaust, Pigs, Prophet, Rebel Blood, Saga, Shinku, Secret, Skullkickers, Spawn, Thief of Thieves, Walking Dead, Whispers, as well as the aforementioned Mind the Gap, Dancer, Epic Kill, Grim Leaper and Youngblood.
Out of 43 titles, I already plan to read 33, or 77% of their total offerings. To my knowledge, as much as I read a ton of comics in general, there is no other publisher with as great statistics in my pull list right now as Image.
Before I close, a bit of editorializing for the sake of editorializing:
I know that a lot of the times when I am writing about Image on this site (and this is just for me personally, not for the other guys), it seems like Image is paying me to say nice things about them. While I’d love to get a paycheck to help pay for all the books I’m buying, I want to note something: everything that I mention about how excited I am for a multitude of Image titles is 100% genuine, and my only goal in writing about all of it is simply to share my love of a publisher doing its damn best to get great, creator-owned content out there on the market and into your collections. Sure, these titles don’t have all have iconic characters who dress up like bats and punch people, but they sure do manage to offer a great deal of bang for your buck nine times out of ten.
At the end of the day, in our economic and heavily social climate, I think that is the very least you can ask from a creative team or publisher. I haven’t touched on the Marvel or DC solicits yet officially, but from my brief glance over them, I’m not nearly as excited for anything as I am excited for the things I’ve mentioned here and in the post about Dark Horse’s offerings. Say what you will about my bias here, but Image has some damn good books with and without my commentary.
