It is the third day in our week-long look at March 2014 solicitations, and that means it is time to shine the spotlight on the recipient of our coveted Publisher of The Year award, Image Comics! It doesn’t seem like March will see a slow down to their epic train-ride that wins all the awards along the way, so lets take a look at some of the highlights of the month.
As always, you can find the full solicitations at the Resource for Comic Books.
10. The Sneakiest Solicit
In the one solicit that I’m honestly surprised has not made more waves, it appears that Ales Kot is going to be writing a single-story issue of the long-running series “The Darkness.”
“The Darkness” is one of those books that has been around for quite some time but doesn’t get near the attention or acclaim that other long-running superhero titles of that ilk do, so I can’t help but wonder if a creator like Kot — whose star is burning oh so brightly — could perhaps shine some new light on the series. I’d be very interested to see what he had to say with the character, to say the least.
THE DARKNESS: VICIOUS TRADITIONS (one-shot)
story ALES KOT
art DEAN ORMSTON
cover DALE KEOWN
MARCH 5 / 32 PAGES / FC / T+ / $3.99
ALES KOT (ZERO, WILD CHILDREN) joins DEAN ORMSTON (Judge Dredd, Predator, Books of Magick) to deliver this special TALES OF THE DARKNESS one-shot! The Roman Empire is on the edge of collapse. A part of its army is stranded deep within the Visigoth territory. The barbarian leader wakes up in a mass grave. He should be dead; yet he is not.
9. Our hopes and expectations, black holes and revelations
See what I did there? Right? Like that song.
So, there’s a new Mark Millar book launching in March, and like with just about every Millar book recently you have to take that with a grain of salt when debating if you’re excited or not. I mean, Millar has proven himself as a talented writer capable of really wild and fun comics, but his most recent output isn’t exactly something I’ve written positively about.
But, Millar always works with amazing artists and throws out amazing-sounding pitches. This is no different. “Starlight” with Goran Parlov sounds like it could be downright incredible and fun and spectacular and imaginative, and this is the first issue of Millar’s new shared universe. There is a lot to potentially like and get excited about here.
STARLIGHT #1
story MARK MILLAR
art / variant cover GORAN PARLOV
cover A JOHN CASSADAY
MARCH 5 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $2.99
Forty years ago, Duke McQueen was the space hero who saved the universe. But then he came back home, got married, had kids, and grew old. Now his children have left and his wife has passed away, leaving him alone with nothing except his memories…until a call comes from a distant world asking him back for his final and greatest adventure. This issue launches the much-anticipated Millarworld Universe. Get in on the start of something MASSIVE!
8. The more Simon Roy the better
When “Prophet” was announced with Brandon Graham and Simon Roy and the MC Crew and myself stood at the Image Booth at NYCC 2011 holding an Extreme Studios relaunch sample book, I remember distinctly thinking, “Wow. This book looks incredible.” And since then, I’ve been a fan of Simon Roy’s artwork and will gladly read anything that he works on.
“Atomic Heart” is absolutely no different. This is an instant buy, no questions asked.
ATOMIC HEART AND OTHER STORIES OGN
story / art / cover SIMON ROY
MARCH 26 / 112 PAGES / BW / M / $14.99
From the mind of Simon Roy, co-writer and artist of the Eisner Award-nominated series PROPHET, comes a collection of tales that span time, space, and species.
7. Hitch takes ownership of the pen
Continued belowI’m very curious about this one. I really like Bryan Hitch as an artist, as he illustrated some of my favorite comics of the oughties — Ultimates, Authority, those Waid-written JLA issues. I’m honestly willing to give anything he works on a look, if only to see what he can blow-up in spectacular style this time.
“America’s Got Powers” was a great representation of Bryan Hitch’s work, though, as Hitch pretty much pioneered the whole Hollywood-esque widescreen blockbuster illustration style (and if “The Authority” didn’t solidify that for you, “Heaven’s Ladder” must have), and that’s what “America’s Got Powers” essentially was in its story. Now, “Real Heroes” seems to be on the same path but even more direct about it, and there’s real potential here for Hitch to essentially tell The Single Most Bryan Hitch Story Ever with this comic.
REAL HEROES #1
story / art / cover A BRYAN HITCH
cover B FRANK CHO
cover C DAVID FINCH
cover D TRAVIS CHAREST
MARCH 26 / 32 PAGES / FC / T+ / $3.99
They are the six most famous actors in the world and together they play The Olympians, the biggest superhero movie franchise in history. Would you ask them to save the world? They may be our only hope…
6. So many good collections, you will go bankrupt
Ok. This is cheating. I’ve got a list of 10 items and here I just throw out 8 things that should be individually itemized.
But, seriously, look at this:
THE END TIMES OF BRAM & BEN TP
story JAMES ASMUS & JIM FESTANTE
art / cover REM BROO
MARCH 5 / 120 PAGES / FC / M / $12.99
The cult-hit, Manning Award-nominated miniseries gets collected with bonus content! When the Biblical apocalypse starts, charming bastard Bram Carlson is raptured into Heaven in a “clerical error.” After he’s sent back to Earth, Bram decides to cash in the end of the world for all it’s worth! But can his anxious roommate Ben save his friend from himself—and the mounting forces of Armageddon? Check out the book the Onion’s AVClub called “hilarious” and IGN called “an amazing series!FATALE: DELUXE EDITION, VOL. 1 HC
story ED BRUBAKER
art / cover SEAN PHILLIPS
MARCH 5 / 288 PAGES / FC / M / $39.99
Collects FATALE #1-10
The best-selling, award-winning team of ED BRUBAKER and SEAN PHILLIPS finally bring their hit book FATALE to the gorgeous Deluxe format they helped pioneer.
Josephine is cursed, and in a series that darkly blends American crime noir with unnamed Lovecraftian horrors, we follow her from 1950s San Francisco, where crooked cops hide deeper evils, to mid-’70s L.A., where burnt-out actors and ex-cult groupies are caught in a web around a satanic snuff film…and in the middle of it all is Josephine, with a power to die or kill for.
This beautiful oversized edition contains all the extras that BRUBAKER and PHILLIPS fans have come to expect from their deluxe hardbacks, including behind-the-scenes art and stories, sketches and layouts, back page illustrations, and several of Jess Nevins’ historical essays, as well.MORNING GLORIES, VOL. 7 TP
story NICK SPENCER
art JOE EISMA
cover RODIN ESQUEJO
MARCH 12 / 120 PAGES / FC / T+ / $14.99
Collects MORNING GLORIES #35-38
The Truants are back in class, and that means new mysteries abound! And whatever happened to Abraham? The answer to that question and more as Season Two races on! Collects the suspense-filled arc “Honors.”
Continued belowRAT QUEENS, VOL. 1: SASS AND SORCERY TP
story KURTIS J. WIEBE
art ROC UPCHURCH
cover FIONA STAPLES
MARCH 19 / 128 PAGES / FC / M / $9.99
Collects RAT QUEENS #1-5
Who are the Rat Queens? A pack of booze-guzzling, death-dealing battle maidens-for-hire, and they’re in the business of killing all god’s creatures for profit. It’s also a darkly comedic sass-and-sorcery series starring Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Smidgen Thief. This modern spin on an old school genre is a violent monster-killing epic that is like Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of the Rings world on crack!
Collecting the first five issues of the sold out hit series at the special introductory price of $9.99!SAGA, VOL. 3 TP
story BRIAN K. VAUGHAN
art / cover FIONA STAPLES
MARCH 19 / 144 PAGES / FC / M / $14.99
Collects SAGA #13-18
The Eisner, Harvey, and Hugo Award-winning phenomenon continues, as new parents Marko and Alana travel to an alien world to visit their hero, while the family’s pursuers finally close in on their targets.SECRET, VOL. 1: NEVER GET CAUGHT TP
story JONATHAN HICKMAN
art RYAN BODENHEIM
MARCH 19 / 200 PAGES / FC / T+ / $16.99
Collects SECRET #1-7
Collecting the acclaimed series by JONATHAN HICKMAN and RYAN BODENHEIM, SECRET tells the story of old spies losing their way in the new world of surveillance, globalization, and privatization.
SEX CRIMINALS, VOL. 1 TP
story MATT FRACTION
art / cover CHIP ZDARSKY
MARCH 12 / 136 PAGES / FC / M / $9.99
Collects SEX CRIMINALS #1-5
SPECIAL LOW INTRODUCTORY PRICE!
Suzie’s just a regular gal with an irregular gift: when she has sex, she stops time. One day she meets Jon and it turns out he has the same ability. And sooner or later they get around to using their gifts to do what we’d ALL do: rob a couple banks. A bawdy and brazen sex comedy for comics begins here!THE WALKING DEAD, VOL. 20: ALL OUT WAR, PART ONE TP
story ROBERT KIRKMAN
art / cover CHARLIE ADLARD, STEFANO GAUDIANO & CLIFF RATHBURN
MARCH 5 / 136 PAGES / BW / M / $14.99
Collects THE WALKING DEAD #115-120
The biggest storyline in THE WALKING DEAD history starts here. It’s Rick versus Negan, with a little help from everyone else!
Holy shit. What a month of collections, am I right?
5. Fantasy abounds
The fantasy genre is seeing a huge revival in comics for “some reason” (also known as Game of Thrones on HBO), but fantasy-nerds like myself are happily reaping the benefits. One of those is this new series by Roberson and Maybury, which decidedly looks like it could be one of next year’s big hits to me. If nothing else, I’d wager it would catapult Maybury on to many people’s radars, and after the work he’s putting out in “Catalyst,” it’s decidedly deserved.
SOVEREIGN #1
story CHRIS ROBERSON
art / cover PAUL MAYBURY
MARCH 19 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $2.99
An epic fantasy in the tradition of Game of Thrones, SOVEREIGN is set in a world which once knew gods, demons, and magic, and to which all three are returning. New York Times bestselling author CHRIS ROBERSON (Edison Rex, iZombie) joins artist PAUL MAYBURY (POPGUN, Catalyst Comix) to tell the story of masked undertakers facing the undead with swords, of civil wars and cultures in collision, of ancient threats emerging from the ashes of history to menace the future…
4. Noah comes to America
After being released overseas for I don’t even know how long now (Google it), “Noah” is finally coming to America via Image. It’s about time! It’s a crime to deprive people of Niko Henrichon art.
I’ve actually been able to read a bit of the original release of “Noah,” albeit not very well since I can’t read French. Henrichon is such an amazing storyteller, though, that you don’t really need to be able to understand the words to appreciate the story being told. It’s rather fantastical. And while I’ve not watched the trailer for the film, I’ll throw this out there: the book is probably going to be better, because Niko Henrichon.
NOAH HC
story DARREN ARONOFSKY & ARI HANDEL
art NIKO HENRICHON
MARCH 19 / 256 PAGES / FC / M / $29.99
From acclaimed filmmaker DARREN ARONOFSKY (Black Swan, The Wrestler) and artist NIKO HENRICHON (Pride of Baghdad), NOAH is a fresh take on the biblical epic for the 21st Century. A fantastical world is about to be destroyed and one man is chosen to start a new one. As wicked forces try to take his Ark, Noah must hold his family together while they watch the annihilation of all they know. Infusing the Book of Genesis with fantasy and science fiction, NOAH both reinvents the elements of the Flood story everyone knows and simultaneously takes the reader beyond them and into the unexpected.
3. Get into the Crawl Space
Now this is exciting! Collecting a bunch of out of print and hard to find Rick Remender comics from his early days, featuring collaborations with Francavilla, Moore, Dwyer, Sam and Harmon, this is a big ol’ omnibus of fun comics that I’ve had trouble myself finding over the years (particularly XXXombies). And now, all of it under one cover? Including all of “Sea of Red”? Sold. Sold, I say!
Continued belowCRAWL SPACE OMNIBUS HC
story RICK REMENDER
art KIERON DWYER, FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA, TONY MOORE, & SALGOOD SAM
cover KIERON DWYER & TONY MOORE
MARCH 12 / 616 PAGES / FC / M / $49.99
Collects NIGHT MARY, XXXOMBIES, SORROW, CREATURES, & SEA OF RED 8×12, OVERSIZED HC
Collecting all of writer RICK REMENDER’s horror work in one oversized hardcover, stunningly illustrated in ghoulishly grindhouse dread by horror superstars KIERON DWYER, FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA, TONY MOORE, SALGOOD SAM, and PAUL HARMON.
2. And The Award For “Best Hardcover From March You Need In Your Library” Goes To…
Despite not being #1, this is the best solicit this month. I know that seems like an idiotic statement, but it is true: if you do not get any comics in the month of March, you are still required to buy this.
collecting all of CBLDF’s Liberty Annuals from 2008 to 2012, this is literally a treasure trove of amazing comics by amazing talent who you know you love. The amount of people who’ve put stories into these yearly books is always incredible, and it’s a shame that they’re not celebrated and collected more when they’re released. But now, to have them all in one hardcover? Wow. Talk about an AMAZING anthology book.
It’s $24.99. You’re practically stealing this.
CBLDF PRESENTS: LIBERTY HC
story JASON AARON, ED BRUBAKER, GARTH ENNIS, NEIL GAIMAN, JONATHAN HICKMAN, GEOFF JOHNS, ROBERT KIRKMAN, MARK MILLAR, GAIL SIMONE, & MANY MORE!
art CHARLIE ADLARD, JOHN CASSADAY, DAVE GIBBONS, JIM LEE, FRANK MILLER, SEAN PHILLIPS, FRANK QUITELY, JILL THOMPSON, BEN TEMPLESMITH, & MANY MORE!
MARCH 26 / 216 PAGES / FC / M / $24.99
Collects LIBERTY ANNUAL 2008-2012
COMICS’ GREATEST CREATORS UNITE TO PROTECT THE FREEDOM TO READ!
Celebrate creative freedom with the industry’s top talents in LIBERTY, a collection benefiting the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund! This deluxe edition collects LIBERTY ANNUAL 2008-2012, with additional material not seen anywhere else and a stunning new cover by PAUL POPE! LIBERTY includes rare work, including a THE WALKING DEAD tale by ROBERT KIRKMAN & CHARLIE ADLARD, 100 Words by NEIL GAIMAN & JIM LEE, Criminal by ED BRUBAKER & SEAN PHILLIPS, The Boys by GARTH ENNIS & DARICK ROBERTSON, plus stories from GEOFF JOHNS, MARK MILLAR, JH WILLIAMS III, TERRY MOORE, HOWARD CHAYKIN, JASON AARON, BRIAN WOOD, STUART & KATHRYN IMMONEN, MIKE ALLRED, DARWYN COOKE, PAUL POPE, and dozens more! LIBERTY also includes incredible illustrations from FRANK MILLER, JEFF SMITH, TIM SALE, JOHN ROMITA JR., MIKE MIGNOLA, and many more! All proceeds from this collection benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund’s work protecting the freedom to read!
And now, the most exciting return we’ve all been waiting for …
1. SKULLKICKERS! SKULLKICKERS! SKULLKICKERS!
SKULLKICKERS!
SKULLKICKERS!
SKULLKICKERS!
SKULLKICKERS #25
story JIM ZUB
art EDWIN HUANG & MISTY COATS
cover JAMES GHIO
MARCH 26 / 32 PAGES / FC / T / $3.50
“A DOZEN COUSINS AND A CRUMPLED CROWN,” Part One
Weep no more. SKULLKICKERS is back with another head-crushing story arc to fill the fantasy fun void in your life.
The dwarf has been forcibly returned to his homeland and the deranged diminutive denizens of Dwayre will make sure it’s a homecoming like no other.
SKULL. KICKERS.
