Halloween is upon us. The Walking Dead Season 8 starting back up with the All Out War story line has me started in comparing the books with the show. We also get blessed with some new Stranger Things episodes with Season 2 coming out on Netflix. The Simpsons Halloween special was awesome this past Sunday as well. This is just a great time a year for entertainment.
You know what isn’t awesome? This weeks books that are hitting stands. Just not a whole lot going on for the most part. There’s definitely more to look forward to on TV than in books this week but hopefully there’s a few surprises.
DC/Vertigo Pick
This weeks pick goes to another Batman book, Batman: The Merciless. Apparently it sold out far enough back that we should be getting the 2nd print alongside the first print. That’s a very odd and strange concept for sure when you can possibly pick between the 1st and 2nd print on the same day.
At the time of writing, I could not for the life of me find the actual cover but what I believe should be close to the final artwork for the cover. Which appears to show a Batman donning a Wonder Woman logo on his chest. I’m digging the cover though, if this is the final art, I’d imagine it will be colorized though and not black and white with red blood.
Last week The Drowned seemed to sell out quickly, one of my local shops sold out rather quickly. We also see a 2nd print hitting shelves of this book that introduces us to this new Aqua Batwoman or something of that nature.
Marvel Pick
Not a whole lot going on in the Marvel Universe this week, yet again. Some more lenticular’s that don’t lenticular very well. But one book has my attention and that’s Silver Surfer #14 Jack Kirby 100th Anniversary variant.
I really dislike what Dan Slott has done to the Silver Surfer in these past few volumes. Silver Surfer was one of my long time favorite characters that has so much potential but you know.. Slott, I’ll leave it at that.
This is an awesome Kirby variant though. Pick it up if you find it cheap.
Indie Pick
This book might not be for everyone but I really really enjoyed the first book and that was Beautiful Death. So this weeks small publisher pick goes to Beautiful Death #2 from Mathieu Bablet.
Issue one had be going the first few pages with some great artwork story telling and then BAM! What a surprise that was! Anyone who’s read it knows what I’m talking about. If you haven’t read it, won’t spoil it for you.
So this really has me pumped to read issue 2, probably the highlight book of the week for me. Not so much a spec pick though but a good read pick.
Small Publisher Pick
This week brings us a new Valiant book Eternity #1. I honestly think Valiant is underrated. They might not have a ton of books to choose from but what they do put out there is quality work, both writing and art.
From Matt Kindt (who by the way is knocking it out of the ballpark with the new X-O Manowar series) and Trevor Hairsine (Divinity, which is just great stuff itself), they bring us this new character in the Valiant Universe.
I don’t expect this to blow up like the first Divinity did out of nowhere but this still looks like a great pick to read.
From the description:
A VISIONARY NEW SERIES! From the minds of New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (X-O MANOWAR, Mind MGMT) and blockbuster artist Trevor Hairsine (DIVINITY, X-Men: Deadly Genesis) comes an expedition into the Unknown. Beyond time… Beyond space… Beyond reality itself… ETERNITY awaits!
This October, Valiant unveils a new plane of existence beyond our own and unleashes a universe of new worlds, new beings, and new myths…
Now on with the dreaded “avoid” pick, every writer and artist worst nightmare when it comes to selling their hard work.
This weeks avoid was a hard pick as it was part of a series that could of been great and I truly enjoyed it but delays killed it. Instead of possibly reviving the series, they just do a spin-off that will likely result in the same fate.
Just in time for Halloween though is Jughead The Hunger. It’s a new series which I hope can keep the momentum going but let’s not hold our breathe people. The Francavilla cover is great but this is a book I think you should skip and avoid. If it does actually keep pumping out issues, perhaps one should wait to just pick up the trade paperback to read since it might take 5 years to get to issue 10, if it even makes it that far.
So that’s all I got this week. You know the drill, comment if you like, got something else you want to say. Tell me you hate me. It’s all good.
The link does not work
Now it works. Sorry, you might of seen the email go out earlier today as I fat fingered the scheduled post time which got updated so the article wasn’t quite ready for viewing yet.
I am so diapointed in Archie.
First, Afterlife with Archie gets an issue a year if we are lucky. The story momentum, characters, and art were so good is this story. It was Archie awards for god’s sake! You would think Afterlife would be a big priority for a company trying to lure in a younger demo.
Second, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was/is soooo good but can’t get an issue out monthly or even quarterly (To be fair, they have put an issue or two out recently but it was after a huge gap). To add insult to injury I saw a solicit for a Halloween Fest Chilling Adventures of Sabrina “Season Two” #1. I was dumbfounded. So, Archie, you can’t even get your “Season One” our on time but you are going to relaunch? Give me a break.
Third, WE ALREADY HAD A JUGHEAD THE HUNGER #1. I own it and read like 6 months ago. What the hell is this??? Am I taking crazy pills????
I really can’t trust them to commit to a book so why should I.
Your last sentence says it all.. that’s why sadly, this new book is the book to avoid. If they do happen to keep it on schedule, just wait a few months or years, pick up the trade to read it I say.
Thank you for calling out Dan Slott on ruining the Silver Surfer. I really can’t recognize the character anymore (even if he’s not “silvered down”). What a waste to a great character.
+10! Dammit!
Yeah, Slott has pretty much ruined Silver Surfer. We need a new writer to step in and revive him. Silver Surfer has the potential the Guardians of the Galaxy have… they need to take it to new heights with such new writer.
The Archie delays are agonizing… but I am wired to only buy single issues, I don’t trade-wait, so even if I was inclined to trade-wait, I would just buy the single issues and let them pile up before reading them. I actually haven’t read the last few issues of each book (Afterlife & Chilling Adventures) because I know reading them will just make it tougher to wait for the rest of them to be released. I feel like there is some underlying issue we just don’t hear about, behind these books. Especially with Afterlife. With Archie trying to break into a wider audience with more mainstream and popular artists, I think the creators are fans of Archie (many have admitted to it in interviews and editorials) and they are opting to work with Archie for a lower rate-of-pay, but maybe they also get the option to back-burner Archie in favor of other work that comes in. So if Francavilla gets work from a bunch of other publishers at a higher rate of pay, those all come first, and those jobs keep coming in, so Afterlife is continually sidelined, and they will continue to wait until Francavilla gradually finishes that final issue. What they should have done is found another lesser-known artist with a horror vibe and had them continue the book after #6, with Francavilla just doing covers. And if Francavilla were doing interiors on a further issue, just have him do a stand-alone story focused on a flashback tale that they could insert between a future storyline without needing it at a specific time.
I haven’t gotten my copy of Jughead: The Hunger yet, but if the first issue is just a reprint of last year’s one-shot, then it is already off to a poor start, because they are already taking a month off. If #1 is a reprint, then the solicited #2 is the first truly new issue, and then we have a month with no solicitation for it.
With Riverdale being a huge hit on TV (Season 2 ratings are already Double that of Season 1 thanks to a summer of Netflix and strong word-of-mouth), hopefully Archie is taking in some newfound profits and will use it to ensure their books start coming out on time. If they lure in new readers thanks to the show, they can’t afford to fumble and lose them, because they won’t be as devoted to a comic book as the long-time fans are.
I don’t think this #1 is a reprint of last years One-shot #0. But I didn’t bother picking up the one shot.