Okay, May is a big, big, big month of Image so I’m going to mostly skip the preamble. Something something “Secret Wars”, “Convergence” something something events something something something difference. You know how this goes by now, right? We look at the solicitations from comic book publisher every month and pick out our top 10. It literally spells it out in the title.
But like I said, big month so there’s some honourable mentions I got to give, mostly pertaining to collected editions:
- “Five Ghosts” is getting a deluxe hardcover collection in May. This is awesome. “Five Ghosts” is a really great series and deluxe hardcovers are my favourite format for collecting comics, so I cannot wait for this.
- One the front of Image’s $9.99 volume trades, May sees the release of “ODY-C”, “Intersect” and “Wytches”. The only one of those three I’m excited about is “ODY-C” because I dropped “Wytches” after the first issue and I skipped “Intersect”. So yeah, if those interest you then they’re a-coming’!
- Also, “Trees” will be starting a new story arc in May with #9 and if you’re still not reading this series by now, then you’re missing out on my legitimate favourite series from Image. Get on that, people.
With that out of the way, though, let’s get to the Actual Top 10 for May from Image Comics’ solicitatons for May 2015.
10. It’s Back! It’s Really Back!
There was a point where I remembered that I hadn’t seen “Rocket Girl” in the solicits for a while there and I got really disheartened. After an amazing, explosive intro to the comics scene, I thought we’d never see the series again. I was devastated. But it’s coming back! Brandon Montclare and Amy Reeder’s sci-fi action series centring around a young girl with a jetpack being sent back through time from 2014 (or was it 2013? it was a while ago) to the 80s and the jijinks happen.
It was funny, charming, cute and Amy Reeder draws action amazingly well. When this comics back, you better not skip this.
ROCKET GIRL #6
STORY: BRANDON MONTCLARE
ART / COVER: AMY REEDER
MAY 6 / 32 PAGES / FC / T / $3.99ROCKET GIRL RETURNS!
DaYoung Johansson was prepared to live a normal life — as normal as 1986 New York City could ever be for a teenage cop from a high tech alternate reality 2014. But time travelling isn’t so simple: changes made in both the future and past are now at war, and the present is stuck in the middle.
9. What Is This, Some Kind Of Clandestine Destiny?
“Roche Limit” ends next week with its fifth issue and we’re already seeing that it will return in May with volume two, “Roche Limit: Clandestiny”. In “Roche Limit”, Michael Moreci and Vic Malhotra threw the genres of sci-fi, noir crime and hardboiled detective fiction in a blender and came out with a smooth, smooth smoothie that stands out from the crowd in terms of sheer inventiveness of the setting and crisp character writing. I can’t wait to see how this first series ends and I especially can’t wait to see where it goes after that in “Clandestiny”.
ROCHE LIMIT: CLANDESTINY #1
STORY: MICHAEL MORECI
ART: KYLE CHARLES & VIC MALHOTRA
COVER A: KYLE CHARLES
COVER B: VIC MALHOTRA
MAY 6 / 32 PAGES / FC / T + / $3.50The breakout hit of 2014 returns with volume two of the groundbreaking sci-fi trilogy!
It’s 75 years after the events that left the Roche Limit colony in flames. When a crew of military and science personnel are sent to the forgotten and desolate planet on a mysterious expedition, they quickly learn its dark secrets — and that their mission is not what they thought it to be. With danger lurking all around, the crew members fight to find a way off the planet and resist the mysterious presence that haunts them all.
8. The End Of An Era…
I may have said this before, but I genuinely believe that “Peter Panzerfaust” is Image’s most underrated comic. Sure, I got into reading comics from Image through “Saga” because I’m a walking cliché like that, but the two after that were “The Manhattan Projects” and “Peter Panzerfaust”. While the former had its ups and downs and I vastly prefer Hickman’s “East Of West”, “Peter Panzerfaust” is a series I avidly awaited every time a new issue came out.
Continued belowSetting a retelling of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan in France in World War II while intercutting that with modern day interviews with survivors of the war in order to switch perspectives of the events, Kurtis Wiebe and Tyler Jenkins have crafted a truly beautiful comic that can be at times exhilarating, heartwarming, heartstopping and heartbreaking. Just like all good adventures should be.
With #25, in May, that adventure comes to an end. It’ll be sad to see it go.
PETER PANZERFAUST #25
STORY: KURTIS J. WIEBE
ART / COVER: TYLER JENKINS
MAY 20 / 48 PAGES / FC / T / $4.99“NEVERLAND”
The grand finale of Peter’s journey and the one interview John Parsons has been building toward: Wendy Darling. The woman who knew Peter as no other reveals her secrets, and the mystery behind the man[g][h] will finally be revealed. A double-sized issue of intrigue, love and heroism and a final goodbye to Peter Panzerfaust.
7. The Beginning Of A New One
Okay, this’ll be brief because, sadly, I haven’t had a chance to read “Rat Queens” yet. I know, I know, I’m a bad person, but I only have so much money to spend on comics and when “Rat Queens” came out I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was. That also means that I don’t have much to say about the Roc Upchurch situation as I don’t know all what went down.
But, that being said, in May, “Rat Queens” is returning with #11 and new artist Stjepan Sejic. This is a really great series as far as I know (obviously, I don’t know first hand, but everything I’ve been told can’t all be lies, right?) and this could be a great spot to jump in.
RAT QUEENS #11
STORY: KURTIS J. WIEBE
ART / COVER: STJEPAN SEJIC
MAY 6 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.99Featuring the debut of new regular series artist STJEPAN SEJIC (WITCHBLADE, SUNSTONE)!
“DEMONS”
Road Trip! Having survived the end of the world, the Queens follow Hannah back to where it all began: Mage University. With Necromancers being hunted by a mysterious cadre of religious zealots, Hannah will see to it that the Council of Ten, the overseers of the mage community, do something about it.
6. Don’t Call A Book A “Finale” If It’s Not The Finale
Look, I know this is the end of the series’ first year and you want to celebrate that with a big thing about how there’s no ads and whatnot. But when I read “extra-sized finale” as one of the first words in the solicit? I almost have a heart attack. Seriously, I thought this was ending in twelve issue. That shit’s not cool, guys. Come on. Don’t do that.
Aside from that, I’m really glad this series will be making it into it’s second year. This was a book that sprang up out of nowhere with a batshit premise that I thought no one would like or even get. Instead, we’ve got 12 issues of it and more are on the way. Gotta love those small miracles.
SHUTTER #12
STORY: JOE KEATINGE
ART: LEILA DEL DUCA & OWEN GIENI
MAY 20 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.99THE EXTRA-SIZED FINALE TO YEAR ONE IS HERE! NO ADS!
Year One of the critically acclaimed series comes to an explosive end in a massive cover-to-cover story promising to change the way you’ve viewed every single issue up ’til now. Really. I mean, look, you’re rolling your eyes, because people say that all the time, but this month it’s actually true, especially when we give you the startling answer to the series’ biggest question: WHO IS KATE KRISTOPHER?
SHUTTER WILL RETURN JULY 2015
5. Oh, You Son Of A Devil
Know how to get me interested in a comic book? Namedrop Orphan Black and True Detective in the solicit. It could be about anything and by anyone and I’d still be interested in it. Thankfully, “Sons Of The Devil”, the first new series debuting from Image in May we’ll be covering in this article, is from a writer I’m into, Brian Buccellato, and sounds pretty interesting. Mentioning psychological horror, cults and the “dark side of human nature”, I can only hope this scratches the itch that not one of the Silent Hill comics have been able to so far.
Continued belowSONS OF THE DEVIL #1
STORY: BRIAN BUCCELLATO
ART / COVER A: TONI INFANTE
COVER B: FRANCIS MANAPUL
COVER C: PAOLO RIVERA
MAY 27 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $2.99From New York Times bestselling writer BRIAN BUCCELLATO and artist TONI INFANTE comes a psychological horror story about TRAVIS, an average guy trying to get by, who discovers that he has familial ties to a deadly cult.
Told across three decades, SONS OF THE DEVIL is an exploration of cults, family, and the dark side of human nature. It’s TRUE DETECTIVE and ORPHAN BLACK meets HELTER SKELTER.
4. When Was The Last Time You Bought A $1.99 Comic?
No, seriously, that wasn’t a rhetorical, eye-catching headline question. When was the last time you bought a comic and it was two bucks? Because I don’t think I ever have. I started reading comics at the tail end of 2011 (astute readers will likely guess the event that got me into reading singles) and I got in just as the shift to $3.99 became the normalised main comic price. Now that we’re seeing more and more $4.99 comics being introduced to the market, the fact that Image would put out a comic at the “special introductory” price of $1.99 is a pretty gutsy move.
But that wouldn’t really mean anything is the comic sounded boring, right? Thankfully, it’s got the names of Phil Hester and John McCrea and the fact that they’re doing a supernatural (horror? action?) comic to back it up. This might be pretty news generating if it does well.
MYTHIC #1
STORY: PHIL HESTER
ART / COVER A: JOHN McCREA
COVER B: SEAN GORDON MURPHY
MAY 6 / 32 PAGES / FC / T+ / $1.99SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE OF $1.99!
Science is a lie, an opiate for the masses. The truth is, magic makes the world go ’round. And when magic breaks, MYTHIC fixes it. Apache shaman Waterson, Greek immortal Cassandra, and cell phone salesman Nate Jayadarma are the crack field team assigned with keeping the gears of the supernatural world turning, and more importantly, keeping you from ever knowing about it.
Join Eisner nominee PHIL HESTER (Green Arrow, The Coffin) and Eisner winner JOHN McCREA (Hitman, The Boys) on their latest expedition to the dark heart of weird comics.
3. Because “The Hearth” Doesn’t Make For A Catchy Title (Get It? It’s A Fireplace Joke)
Ever since the announcement of the end of “Sheltered” (which I’m still not over, thank you for asking), I’ve been eagerly awaiting what the creative team will move onto next. Last month we saw that Johnnie Christmas, who has the best name in all of comics, will be working on “Piscenes”. This month, we’re getting a new comic from Ed Brisson. And it’s about a superhero who has powers thrust upon him after being stuck by lighting after coming home from a punk concert. It’s almost like Ed sat down and thought “What can I do to make sure Alice buys this comic?” and then threw it all into the one comic. I appreciate it, Ed, I really do.
2. Pretend This Is Tied For First
I took a long time debating whether I should put this in first place, or the comic that actually is in first place in first place. I got the feeling that if I skimped out on that one, people would be mad. Instead I have to gush for a second about Ales Kot in second place. “Material” sounds like a culmination of the three works I most associated with Ales Kot played together as a response to the track out society on. With a dollop of the conspiracy laden, wartorn character drama of “Zero”, a helping of the multiple character driven, sprawling narrative of “Change” and served with a garnish of the anti-society musings of “Wild Children”, this is a series I am very, very interested in. As I’ve probably said before, I’ll give anything with Ales Kot’s name on it a try and he has rarely disappointed me yet.
Continued belowMATERIAL #1
STORY: ALES KOT
ART: WILL TEMPEST
COVER: TOM MULLER
MAY 27 / 32 PAGES / FC / M / $3.50A man comes home from Guantanamo Bay, irrevocably changed.
An actress receives an offer that can revive her career.
A boy survives a riot and becomes embedded within a revolutionary movement.
A philosopher is contacted by a being that dismantles his beliefs.
Look around you. Everything is material.
1. Was It Really Going To Be Anything Else
People throw the words breakout hit around a lot in comics these days and I don’t necessarily know why? However, a comic I would unironically describe as a breakout hit was Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire’s run on “Moon Knight”. It was cut all too short, sure, and the title hasn’t interested me since, but what they did with the concept was fascinating. Instead of messing about with trying to make a character who has long been languishing in the background of the Marvel U interesting to a new generation by making him cool and hip, they played into the dark and tortured nature of the character with what was essentially a short story collection. The artistry on display was second to none and even though it was sparse, Ellis displayed an amazing grasp of the character.
But, still, they left after their six issues were up. But lo and behold, out on the horizon, is “Injection”. Everything you loved about their “Moon Knight” run? It’s coming back in the form of a series promising an array of stories ranging from supernatural horror to techno-thriller to crime fiction. Unless all you liked was Moon Knight. He’s… he’s not coming back. Only the creators and the tone and structure of the stories they told on “Moon Knight” is coming back. Moon Knight’s owned by Marvel.
INJECTION #1
STORY: WARREN ELLIS
ART / COVERS A & B: DECLAN SHALVEY & JORDIE BELLAIRE
MAY 13 / 24 PAGES / FC / M / $2.99Once upon a time, there were five crazy people, and they poisoned the 21st Century. Now they have to deal with the corrosion to try and save us all from a world becoming too weird to support human life.
INJECTION is the new ongoing series created by the acclaimed creative team of Moon Knight. It is science fiction, tales of horror, strange crime fiction, techno-thriller, and ghost story all at the same time. A serialized sequence of graphic novels about how loud and strange the world is getting, about the wild future and the haunted past all crashing into the present day at once, and about five eccentric geniuses dealing with the paranormal and numinous as well as the growing weight of what they did to the planet with the Injection.
