June is a month so chock full of new releases that I could’ve done an entire installment of just #1s and OGNs…oh wait, that’s exactly what I did. Let’s dig in.
10. Guess who’s back?
The serial killer story is one that never really goes out of style in modern American media, and so it’s never a bad time to tell a serial killer story. Doug Wagner and Daniel Hillyard are bringing back their 2017 creation “Plastic” for a second go ’round, this time focusing on Edwyn as a ten-year old. Again, people love serial killer stories, but I’m not sure if I really need to read a story about a fourth grader killing folks and looking for a sex doll, either.
PLASTIC: DEATH & DOLLS #1 (OF 5)
WRITER: Doug Wagner ARTIST: Daniel Hillyard COVER A / COVER B: Michelle Madsen, Daniel Hillyard COVER C: Melissa Pagluica
JUNE 12 / 32 pages / FC/ — / $3.99MINISERIES PREMIERE
EVERYONE’S FAVORITE SERIAL KILLER HAS RETURNED! Learn how Edwyn came to his first kill at 10 years old and how that set him on a blood-soaked path of decapitations, sporks, and dolls on his way to finding the one true love of his life…a sex doll named Virginia.
9. It’s prequel season
Much like “Plastic,” “Precious Metal” is a return to the world of “Little Bird” for a tale set before those events. I’m not anti-prequel in general, but I do think that comics, in particular, need to get away from the prequel trend sooner than later, if only because it is creating bad habits in storytelling. If you have a story in mind for a prequel, you’re potentially leaving out important stuff of the ‘main’ story because you know it’ll pop up later.
PRECIOUS METAL #1 (OF 6)
WRITER: Darcy Van Poelgeest ARTIST / COVER A: Ian Bertram COVER B: Tradd Moore
JUNE 05 / 56 pages / FC/ — / $5.99MINISERIES PREMIERE
Thirty-five years before the events of LITTLE BIRD, VOL. 1: THE FIGHT FOR ELDER’S HOPE, disillusioned mod-tracker Max Weaver’s routine hunt for a modified child takes a grisly and unexpected turn. Now, saddled with an unpredictable mod who may be the key to unlocking his missing memories, Max will soon find that he isn’t the only one interested in the child’s unique abilities—and if he wants to know more, it’s going to cost him everything. Eisner Award-winning creative team DARCY VAN POELGEEST and IAN BERTRAM reunite for their gripping return to the dystopian American Empire.
8. My least favorite section of the book store
When you think about it, rideshare drivers are a great character to build a series around because of both the colorful company they may keep and also because of the unpredictability of their job. Sure, doctors see weird shit every day, but an Uber driver could be asked to drive almost anywhere. The lookalike aspect is fun, too.
SELF HELP #1
WRITER: Jesse Kellerman ARTIST / COVER A: Marianna Ignazzi COVER B: Stephen Byrne COVER C: Steven Russell Black COVER D: Steven Russell Black, Ashley Wood
JUNE 19 / 32 pages / FC/ — / $3.99MINISERIES PREMIERE
Down-on-his-luck rideshare driver Jerry Hauser’s existence is a bleak one…especially because every fare he picks up tells him how much he looks like uber-successful self-help guru Darren Hart. But after a twist of fate, Jerry is given the chance of a lifetime…which, if he’s not careful, may well end his lifetime. So begins this California noir—a rollicking and gleefully lurid pulp crime story for our time.
7. You had me at Time Cop meets Law and Order
I’m such a sucker for time travel stories that I will even check out this comic that’s solicit is so overwritten that it gives me a headache.
Continued belowRIFTERS #1
WRITER: Joe Trohman, Brian Posehn ARTIST / COVER A / COVER D: Chris Johnson COVER B: Michael Avon Oeming COVER C: Tony Moore COVER E: Mike Allred
JUNE 12 / 32 pages / FC/ — / $3.99SERIES PREMIERE
Please, Saran-Wrap your ass, because you’re about to projectile-shit yourself right into the wild world of RIFTERS, where Time Cop collides with Law & Order, filtered through the Stupid McSmartsalot-Einstein lens of Mr. Show. Fenton and Geller are a couple of part-time Wisenheimers, full-time vice time-cops who suck at rule-following but excel at busting time-travel crimes. Unfortunately, their daily grind involves tedious police work—like chasing down douchebag influencers hellbent on live-streaming illegal transtemporal trips to 1920s Chicago to steal primo bootleg hooch. However, in a twist of fate, our heroes find themselves thrust into the heart of an inter-time serial homicide mystery, but not before things change, forcing our pair into the crosshairs of potentially lethal consequences. The stakes are high, time is of the essence, and Fenton and Geller are about to discover that playing with the time-stream isn’t all flappers and jazz hands. Get ready for a high-octane, double-illegal adventure where the only sure thing is that RIFTERS is rewriting the rulebook on time-travel tales!
6. Let’s get sad!
Dystopian stories go down a lot smoother when the world doesn’t appear to be on verge of various collapses, but I like the dual narratives set up here by Cliff Rathburn. I think a more realistic divide among the species would be one strand who did whatever they could to survive and another who essentially became a doomsday cult. Oh wait, I’m just talking about our current world again.
REMOTE SPACE #1 (OF 4)
WRITER / ARTIST / COVER A: Cliff Rathburn COVER B: Ryan Ottley
JUNE 12 / 32 pages / FC/ — / $3.99MINISERIES PREMIERE
The year is 2450. Earth is dying. The human species has gone down two different evolutionary paths. One used cybernetic augmentation to adapt to space travel. The humans left behind used genetic manipulation to adapt to earth’s worsening climate. For earth to survive, civilizations need to collide.
5. Wait a tick, didn’t we just talk about this?
I know that Image doesn’t have an editorial department similar to Marvel or DC, but who decided that June was a good time for both a dystopian, dying Earth OGN and miniseries? Both sound very good, but a little space between them would’ve done wonders.
DANDELION TP
WRITER: Sabir Pirzada ARTIST: Martín Morazzo, Vanesa R. Del Rey COVER A: Tula Lotay
JUNE 12 / 120 pages / FC/ — / $16.99From SABIR PIRZADA, writer of Marvel Studios’ Moon Knight and Ms. Marvel TV series, comes a bold vision of the future! When climate change and automation disrupt the lives of millions, a new civilization is formed in the skies—one that threatens the wealthy citizens who’ve been hoarding Earth’s meager resources for themselves. Nomadland meets Mad Max in this anthology featuring stunning artwork by MARTÍN MORAZZO (ICE CREAM MAN), VANESA DEL REY (REDLANDS), and more!
4. Brubaker doing something different
Ed Brubaker is a wonderful writer, and his noir/crime stuff is fantastic. That said, “Friday” is refreshing because it allows Brubaker to do something different and remind us when he wasn’t quite as pigeon-holed as his post-Marvel work has been. Again, that’s not a critique of his work with Sean Phillips, but the dude is a legitimately great writer, so I’m glad to see him stretch some different muscles.
FRIDAY
WRITER: Ed Brubaker ARTIST: Muntsa Vicente, Marcos Martín COVER A: Marcos Martín
JUNE 26 / 128 pages / FC/ — / $15.99Yellowjackets meets The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina in the third and final volume of this genre-defying, older-YA masterpiece trilogy from two of comics’ most acclaimed talents! Friday Fitzhugh has been sent back to the night she first arrived in Kings Hill. But the question is why: to save Lancelot Jones, the smartest boy in the world, or to have to watch him die yet again? Is she traveling in time, or caught in a time loop? And what is the White Lady’s secret plan for their town back in the present time? All will be revealed in the stunning final chapter of this post-YA masterpiece!
3. The G double r boys
Gerry Duggan and Garry Brown (now and forever known as the G double r boys) launch a new series that combines two genre favorites – the old West and the samurai era of Japan – into a story that seems to be as interested in romance as it does dueling. I’m intrigued by the solicit.
Continued belowFALLING IN LOVE ON THE PATH TO HELL #1
WRITER: Gerry Duggan ARTIST / COVER A: Garry Brown COVER B: Rian Gonzales COVER C: Klaus Janson
JUNE 05 / 40 pages / FC/ — / $4.99SERIES PREMIERE
GERRY DUGGAN (Deadpool, X-Men) and GARRY BROWN (Babyteeth) present a massive DOUBLE-LENGTH FIRST ISSUE of their groundbreaking new series! The sun set on samurai and gunslingers at roughly the same time, but our two leads didn’t die off quietly. In the East, Asami, an Onna-musha warrior and female samurai, would rather die with her weapons than surrender them to a sword hunt. In the West, the gunslinger MacRaith follows his revenge to the bitter end and pays the ultimate price. The future lovers are mortally wounded a world apart and awake together in a purgatory ruled by a ruthless society of damned warriors. This one has it all—action, the dead, the dying, the undead, and of course…romance.
I like the approach to expanding the G.I. Joe/Transformers series through miniseries, and I’m glad to see really interesting creators like Dan Watters and Andrei Bressan being on board. The first Cobra comic that made me take note was the Mike Costa-written series for IDW back around 2011 or so, and that started a mini-Cobra renaissance, where the most interesting Joe books were the Cobra ones. I think that is a smart way to go, as it can allow the mainline Joe book to be more classic and somewhat simple, and expand the mythos and create depth through characters more built for nuance.
DESTRO #1 (OF 5)
WRITER: Dan Watters ARTIST / COVER A: Andrei Bressan, Adriano Lucas COVER B: Joelle Jones COVER C: Nikola Čižmešija COVER D: Steve Epting COVER E: Jorge Fornes COVER F: Jonboy Meyers COVER G: David Mack
JUNE 19 / 40 pages / FC/ — / $4.99MINISERIES PREMIERE
THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THE COBRA THREAT BEGINS HERE.? James McCullen Destro XXIV is the man behind M.A.R.S. Industries, the undisputed leader in providing high-tech weapons to world powers…for the right price. But the emergence of Energon has changed everything. As Destro’s ambitions grow, the “Crimson Twins” Tomax and Xamot Paoli emerge to destroy their competition, and Cobra Commander realizes his current ally could be his future greatest enemy. Acclaimed writer DAN WATTERS (UNIVERSAL MONSTERS: CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON LIVES!, Loki) and artist ANDREI BRESSAN (DARK RIDE, BIRTHRIGHT) change the balance of power in the Energon Universe forever.
1. You had me at ‘priest-bot’
The best part about comics is how budget has no place in the discussion. A great story is just as cheap to create as a terrible one (in terms of supplies, etc. Obviously, having more time to work and being independently wealthy are advantages, but you get my point). And so, when a comic talks about a ‘priest-bot,’ a war-god that takes the body of a goose, and the solicit references both Miyazaki and Arthur C. Clarke, it’s hard not to get excited. This story sounds like it could be anything, literally anything. That’s awesome.
GRIZ GROBUS TP
WRITER / ARTIST / COVER A: Simon Roy
JUNE 05 / 200 pages / FC/ — / $19.99On a distant planet, a prying scribe, a sentimental constable, and a mayor resurrect a sleepy town’s long-defunct priest-bot. But “Father Stanley” is not what he seems. Meanwhile, in another universe, a hungry wizard accidentally conjures a war-god into the body of a goose. These two intertwined tales make up GRIZ GROBUS, the hit Kickstarter graphic novel sensation now at Image Comics! Perfect for fans of Hayao Miyazaki, Asterix, and Arthur C. Clarke!
Image’s full solicits can be found on their website.
