Every so often Image launches a half dozen or so good new titles all at once. That’s been happening over the last few months so by the time we hit February, those series will be turning up the tension, ending their first arcs, or beginning their second. You know it’s been a good time for comics when even the novelty of a new series can’t shake the excitement of stories we’ve already started. In fact, the number one pick on this list is not the beginning of something new, but the end of one of the longest running comics that’s still around. Won’t you join me in getting incredibly hype!?
As always, you can find the full solicitations on the official Image website.
10. Infinity Spawntlet
Maybe this series looks appealing to you. Maybe not. I can guarantee though that you know someone who would go nuts for this. It’s cutesy, it’s violent, and it’s filled with references to other popular stuff. You either have a teenager in your life, or are a teenager, and this looks great. Or you’re Gen X and treasure you Aliens poster and look to Kevin Smith movies as a spiritual experience. Either way, you’re going to get a kick out of this miniseries, I promise.
SPAWN KILLS EVERYONE TOO #3 (OF 4)
WRITER / COVER A / COVER B: Todd McFarlane
ARTIST / COVER C: Will Robson
FEBRUARY 13 / 32 pages / FC/ T / $3.99IF YOU THOUGHT ISSUES ONE AND TWO HAD A LOT OF BLOOD AND GUTS… WAIT ‘TIL YOU SEE ISSUE THREE!! MORE CUTENESS AND MORE KILLINGS… WHAT COULD BE BETTER!?
9. Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Go catch up with “Outer Darkness.” There hasn’t been that much of it yet. Got it? What’d you think? Intriguing eh? This is a book that’s hard to pin down. It’s sad, it’s scary, but also intriguing. The larger story is existentially dreadful, but the driving plot is bite sized. It makes the otherwise overwhelming book approachable. Issue #4 promises to tell the “sad tale” of a single character, and that continued commitment to focus makes me certain that this book will continue to tell confident sci-fi stories.
OUTER DARKNESS #4
WRITER: John Layman
ARTIST / COVER A: Afu Chan
FEBRUARY 13 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $3.99In this issue, we learn the sad tale of Chief Navigator Elox. What secret in his past might doom the crew of The Charon, and why does he hate everyone so much?
8. Movin’ On Up
I wanted to like “Bitter Root” and surprise! I love it. If you’re a true genre aficionado, you want to see lots of new kinds of stories. If all fantasy was Tolkien clones, you’d get sick of elves and dwarves real quick, y’know? “Bitter Root” doesn’t really draw on European folklore. It’s telling a familiar story, with uncommon trappings. This is an ancient family of monster hunters who can trace their lineage back to the Caribbean and Africa. They’ve been at this a long time, and the Harlem setting is filled with verve and life. And the characters! The Sangerye family is easily my favorite new superhero team of 2018. There, I’ve said it. I am confident that will continue to be the case in the new year.
BITTER ROOT #4
WRITER: David F. Walker, Chuck Brown
ARTIST / COVER A: Sanford Greene
COVER B: David Mack
COVER C: Kevin Nowlan
COVER D: Natacha Bustos
FEBRUARY 20 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $3.99The Sangerye family has fought evil for decades, but they’ve never faced anything like this. And while two family members have returned home, one may be lost forever as Hell comes to Harlem. BITTER ROOT Cover As by SANFORD GREENE will be connecting through the first story arc.
7. This Is the Waning of the Age of Mythology
Don’t think I forgot. “WicDiv” is coming to an end, and I got a lot of feelings about it. I wish to express those feelings, perhaps by reacting to a solicit for the final arc, but what the hell is this? Are we to understand… anything from this? My takeaway is that Image knows this book is gonna move issues, and they know this is the last arc. They don’t need to sell people with specifics. Just vague promises that it’s gonna knock our socks off. We’re 42 issues in, if a general sense of amazement doesn’t get you pick up this issue, would some nonsense about Baal and Persephone really make a difference? Am I cranky about this solicit? A bit. Am I stoked about this issue? Beyond belief.
Continued belowTHE WICKED + THE DIVINE #42
WRITER: Kieron Gillen
ARTIST / COVER A: Matthew Wilson, Jamie McKelvie
COVER B: Vanesa Del Rey
FEBRUARY 20 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $3.99“OKAY,” Part Three I just read the synopsis for this issue and gaped. We’re actually going to do all this in an issue? That AND that AND that? Honestly, this last arc really is going for it.
6. Hey Soul Sister
What a fresh, fun series “Exorsisters” turned out to be! “Hot girls fight demons” is probably one of those most overplayed genres on Earth, it’s like half the shows on the CW and Netflix, but damn if “Exorsisters” doesn’t have a great time with it. The covers have a lot of style, the series is well plotted, and the Harrow sisters are right up there with Buffy, Sabrina, and the Charmed Ones. I don’t know what this talk of “ultimate darkness” is all about, but I’m willing to bet it’s gonna be a lot of fun.
EXORSISTERS #5
WRITER: Ian Boothby
ARTIST / COVER A: Pete Pantazis, Gisèle Lagacé
COVER B: Moritat
FEBRUARY 20 / 32 pages / FC/ T+ / $3.99The ultimate darkness pays the Harrow sisters a visit, and they learn that there are much worse places to end up in than Hell.
5. Murder and Maude
Am I part of the patriarchy? Uh, yeah, I guess technically by virtue of anatomy. But do I want to see them toppled. Eff yeah I do. That being said, “Man-Eaters” is a story and stories need conflict. It’s scary, but true. In this issue, our hero Maude meets a snag in her plans to singlehandedly bring down The Men. But it’s through conflict that we grow, and struggle can be instructive. And who knows that better than Chelsea Cain, a talented creator the world has decided to unnecessarily torment. I’ll tell you this: Chelsea Cain knows conflict, because she’s living it, and every time we throw a stupid obstacle in her way, her comics get better and better. But we should stop. I think she deserves a break. Do yourself a solid and pick up this comic.
MAN-EATERS #6
WRITER: Chelsea Cain
ARTIST: Kate Niemczyk
COVER A: Lia Miternique
FEBRUARY 27 / 24 pages / FC/ T+ / $3.99“INDELIBLE IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS” Maude’s plan to disrupt the Patriarchy is temporarily thwarted. BUT EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY IN THE END. WE PROMISE.
4. Chasing Mindy
I love the idea of franchising the Millar characters, and Hit-Girl is the one who could benefit the most. She’s so simple in concept (a bad mouthed little girl who kills bad people) but there’s something ineffable about her appeal. People just love Mindy and her mission to murder. So the more voices working on her story the better. And so who have we got this month. Let’s see… Kevin Smith!? I have mixed feelings on the Once and Future Silent Bob’s comic book output, but the dude has a big (and healthy!) heart. He’s got Mindy tearing it up in Hollywood, and that sounds perfect. Kevin Smith has had his fair share of Hollywood adventures. Maybe Hit-Girl will fight John Peters. I’d read that.
HIT-GIRL SEASON TWO #1
WRITER: Kevin Smith
ARTIST: Pernille Orum
COVER A / COVER B: Francesco Francavilla
COVER C: Amanda Conner
FEBRUARY 13 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $3.99“THE SILENT ERA,” Part One Join film, podcast, and comics legend KEVIN SMITH (Green Arrow, Daredevil) and animation/illustration virtuoso PERNILLE ØRUM (DC Superhero Girls, Blush, Coral) for the glitz and gore of this all-new chapter of HIT-GIRL! Our favorite adolescent assassin tears Tinsel Town a new one when she realises her life’s being dramatized for the silver screen. Hit-Girl storms sets, wages war on fat-cat movie bosses, and lures old enemies out of hiding in this Californian bloodbath.
3. Wickey Wickey Wild Wild West
I don’t want to speak too soon, but “Middlewest” is the comic that’s going to take Skottie Young to the next level. He already had the humor and whimsy down, but this book finally conjures the kind of deep pathos that are usually missing from his work. I don’t think a story needs sadness to be Good Art, but Young needed to shake things up, and there’s an honesty to this book that you can tell he’s been seeking out for a while. This time around we’ve got a freaky magical carnival, the talking fox, and a big old timey robot. It’s the perfect setup for a Skottie Young book and I can’t wait to see him absolutely crush it.
Continued belowMIDDLEWEST #4
WRITER: Skottie Young
ARTIST: Jorge Corona
COVER A: Mike Huddleston
FEBRUARY 20 / 32 pages / FC/ M / $3.99Abel and the fox have wandered into a small-town carnival where they should be able to find the healer they seek. While they search, Fox teaches Abel that survival sometimes means bending the rules a bit.
2. Birdman of Icecatraz
Yo: Magnum Khaos is a sweet-ass name for your bad guy. This book has everything I want. Unlike Skottie Young, Daniel Warren Johnson has never had to look far to find his inner melancholy, but he’s filled this book with enough fun STUFF that it just rules. Cyborg bird creatures powered by metal who can channel human emotions into super-karate in order to take down kaiju demons? What else could you be looking for? In this issue, our heroes make their pilgrimage to one of the holy sites of The Heaviest of Metal, Iceland. It’s gonna be doom and gloom for someone. 10/10 devil horns.
MURDER FALCON #5
WRITER: Daniel Warren Johnson
ARTIST: Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer
COVER A: Mike Spicer, Daniel Warren Johnson
COVER B: Lorenzo De Felici
FEBRUARY 13 / 32 pages / FC/ T / $3.99Magnum Khaos has rocked the Earth, shaking Jake and Brooticus to their core—but don’t despair! A new band rises in Iceland, unleashing the blackest of metal to turn the tide.
1. Once and Future Matchstick
When I was a kid in high school in the early 2000s, I had a pretty cool English teacher. He was into comics, Bruce Lee movies, stuff like that. His favorite was a series called “Mage.” I didn’t get it back then, but “Mage” was tremendous and tiny, mythic and personal, and the fact that it has endured since it’s first issue in 1984 is proof of its classic status. Now here’s the crazy part: this is it. Thirty-five years, almost fifty issues and Matt Wagner is bringing his blue collar epic to a close. No more Kevin Matchstick. No more baseball bat/Excalibur. No more everyday Hamlet allusions. It’s over. Look friends, it’s not every day that a classic series rises, falls, rises again, and then gets to go out on its own terms. Respect “Mage.” Respect Kevin Matchstick. Respect Matt Wagner. This is truly the end of a comic book era, and if you don’t feel the significance of the moment, do yourself a favor and take this as an opportunity to read a classic, complete series.
MAGE: THE HERO DENIED #15 (OF 15)
WRITER / ARTIST / COVER A / COVER B: Matt Wagner
FEBRUARY 27 / 56 pages / FC/ T+ / $7.99This is it: the grand finale that’s 35 years in the making! 56 PAGES (+8-page gatefold)
