January 2013 Alternate Comics Diamond Previews Review
Let’s pay a visit to the back of the Previews for product shipping in March 2013.
Dark Horse is up first. The final issue of the horror crossover between Criminal Macabre and The 30 Days of Night comes to our local comic shops in March and only one of the franchises will make it through. I love the movie 30 Days of Night (and I know I am in the minority) so I am a little bias, but I imagine Cal will be the winner.
The Massive #10 by Brian Wood (W) brings us the first of three stand alone issues, each with a different artist, and this issue brings us Gary Erskine. Erskine has an impressive resume including The Filth (inks), Dan Dare, and Army@Love, which is a small listing from his impressive body of work. This is a book more people should be reading.
Mass Effect fans, and even myself, have a pretty good reason to be excited. Mass Effect Library Edition: Volume 1 HC, a 416 page collection of all four Mass Effect series. I am not one for the games but the back story is amazing and to have all of this in one collection makes this a book worth getting.
IDW continues with its G.I. Joe relaunch with G.I. Joe: Special Missions #1 by Chuck Dixon (W), and Paul Gulacy (A). First up, lets celebrate Chuck Dixon writing the Joes! This makes this title worth picking up alone, but the fact that this story features my favorite Cobra villain, Baroness! Baroness is one of the more complicated characters in the Joe-verse and any story that focuses on her is a good one in my books. This one isn’t hopping automatically onto my pull list but I will gladly check out the first arc.
My favorite Pony, Rainbow Dash, is the focus of My Little Pony Micro-Series #2. The first issue of the regular ongoing series was one of my favorites of the year, and displayed an appreciation for it’s younger and older fans. The comic lived up to the series and I have every belief that this micro-series will be the of the same pedigree.
Iron Sky is a wonderful guilty pleasure of mine, and those that have not seen this amazing, publicly funded, movie about Nazi’s launching an attack on present day Earth….from the moon should check this out as soon as you can. And I did say Nazi’s on the moon! This is easily a property that has so many stories to tell, and this is an excellent way to see the movie, in comic book form. This is a 112 page adaption of the best combination of sci-fi and comedy I have ever seen, sorry Spaceballs. Mikko Rautalahti (W), Gerry Kissell (A) and Amin Amat (A) are the team who are going to bring this satire of politics, both past and present, to the comic book page, and I cannot wait to see the results.
I believe Image is going to have two of the biggest hits of the year coming out in March. These titles will help make this year even bigger than Image had last year. First up is a dystopian future and the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and they are trying to kill the President. That is enough reason to pick up this book but East of West #1 also has an amazing creative team in Jonathan Hickman (W) and Nick Dragotta (A).
The other book that is sure to sell out its first print is the Joe Casey written Sex #1. Piotr Kowalski is an artist I am not overly familiar with but from the art seen I like his retro style art, but with a darker sensibility, which works really well with the subject matter. I am always intrigued on what superhero writers pen when they aren’t restricted by an editorial mandate, and can really say what they wanted to say.
How can Bloodstrike and Youngblood continue, yet something wonderfully different like Glory gets the ax is beyond me. Glory #34 brings an end to this gloriously re-imagined property that once had it’s start as a generic, t & a title that existed solely on riffs from other female heroines. It became so much more than what it originally started as. I am worried that Liefeld will bring Glory back into his books and undo what has been done. If it does at least there will always be the trades of this run.
Another series ending is Hack/Slash #25. Tim Seeley (W) and Elena Casagrande (A) brings us the blood soaked finale. I am just discovering a fondness for these characters after finally getting around to the Omnibuses, and I am sad to see their story ending, but I can’t deny I look forward to sitting down and reading the entire run in omnibus form (as long as they keep coming out).
Ape Entertainment has a much anticipated release in March with Drew Haye’s Poison Elves #1. Robb Horan (W), Osvaldo Pestana Montpeller (A) bring us back to the world of Lusiphor with stories that are based on ideas of Drew Haye’s and where he wanted to go with the series. I am hoping that new reprints of the original trades will be released, and hope that this book gets supported enough for Ape to look at the trades as a possibility.
Relaunches are happening all over the place and over at Dynamite they join the relaunch band wagon with Mark Waid’s Green Hornet #1. Fans of the character and Mark Waid’s name should be enough to make this one of Dynamites best selling issues of 2013.
Over at my personal favorite publisher, Valiant we get new story lines starting in Shadowman #5 by Justin Jordan (W), Patrick Zircher (A/W), and X-O Manowar #11 by Robert Venditti (W) and Cary Nord (A). Planet Death is promised to be a mega-event in X-O Manowar. That is a pretty big claim but the quality of the Valiant releases to date makes me believe the claim.
Speaking of X-O Manowar, his second trade X-O Manowar Vol. 2: Enter Ninjak TPB comes out in March. I am excited for this. I am not a trade waiter but I thought I would give it a try and I am happy I did. The first X-O trade blew me away and actually makes me want to go monthly on the title but on the other hand this was such a satisfying read when read as one trade. I will keep going trade on this, and it has opened my eyes to the joys of trades. This might make me switch to trade on some books.
That’s it for March 2013, see you soon when we look at April.
