Previews gives us a glimpse of what’s to come. Here’s the spotlight of new books coming out of December Previews for the independent and much smaller publishers.
Nothing overly exciting for the upcoming indie books but there’s a few that are worth checking out. Here they are in no particular order…
A special one-shot introducing everyone’s new favorite monsters! What happens when ordinary monsters find themselves in life’s, awkward situations? They call their friends for help.
The Adventures of Byron is an all-ages story about just that: friends helping friends, even if the odds are stacked against them! Join Byron, Oswald and Paxton – three monsters with different personalities who all rely on each other no matter what hair-brained idea each may have – in their adventures of surviving boredom, creativity and well, many other things!
Always checking out the fun and entertaining books that are also kid friendly.
Conspiracy Area 51 #1 (Cover A – Colapietro)
Area 51 Do you believe we are alone in the universe or are there other lifeforms out there waiting for contact? Is the government keeping them a secret from the public? Is it for our own good, or for something far more sinister?
Find out the truth here, as we storm this conspiracy head on! WARNING This series may very well change how you look at life as we know it.
I’m not usually picking Zenescope books but this one looks like a entertaining read.
Ronnie is released from Holiday Regional, as another close family friend is rushed to the same hospital in critical condition. The people closest to the Lee family are being targeted.
Amanda trains with Dorian, mastering the artifacts she will need for the coming battle. As the family prepares to go on the offensive against their mysterious adversaries, a shocking betrayal, from an unthinkable source, may destroy them all before the confrontation can even begin!
Stabbity Bunny is back. Hopefully Rivera’s health is back on track to keep up with our lovable bunny in this awesome story.
Savage Bastards is a story of brotherhood, revenge, and betrayal.
Set in 1873, follow half brothers, Sam and Elliot, as they fight across a series of satellite towns in the Sonoran Desert in order to save Elliot’s mother from their sadistic, sociopath of a father, Darragh MacDougal and the rest of his crazy bastard children.
I always claim I love a good revenge story. I’m pretty big on Westerns too.
Classic Pulp Detectives One Shot
Joshua Werner curates this collection of vintage tales of crime and mystery featuring cunning detectives, all digitally remastered to their original colors and quality!
Loaded with pulse-pounding thrills, this is a must-have for fans of the crime genre and classic pulp comics!
It’s got that classic looking cover to go along with some crime and mystery, of course it’s a must pickup to check out.
Battlecats Tales of Valderia #1 (of 4)
The first in a series of anthology stories designed to shed light on the rich history of the world of Battlecats.
Each issue is crafted by a different creative team and will enhance the already lush characterization of some of the most important felines in the millennia since Valderia’s inception.
Might be an okay read? I like being surprised if it is.
Offworld Sci Fi Double Feature #1
Two sci-fi stories in one flip comic!
In ‘Interstellar Dust’ by C.J. Hudson and Igor Wolski, an intergalactic prison transport vessel breaks down, and the crew and a band of less hardened criminals do whatever they can to survive a riot in deep space.
In ‘Hazel’ by M.L.S. Weech and Collin Fogel, Hazel is the newest member of the Deep Block Terror Squad. As her team begins its mission to shut down a gang’s supply chain, she sets out to prove she’s the best.
I love sci-fi and I must admit, the cover art to this one had me onboard.
In the early 1990’s FantaCo published two comics by Gurch Singh: Tales of Screaming Horror and Vault of Screaming Terror.
The Gurch’s wildly imaginative horror illustrations took the comic community by storm and now each of those original issues sell for well over $100.00 on the collectors market. By popular demand we have contracted with The Gurch to release all the stories from Tales of Screaming Horror as the first issue in an ongoing horror comic series!
The Gurch has painstakingly re-lettered and re-mastered each page for the best possible reproduction. He’ll also be including some brand new, never-before-published illustrations done just for this issue! These are some of the most sought-after stories that FantaCo has ever published and The Gurch is super-hot now – so order accordingly!
I haven’t actually checked to see if the 90s prints of this are still selling for $100 but if they are, I’m down for some reprints to save some cash.
Undone by Blood #1 (Cover A – Kivela)
In the early 1970s, Ethel Grady Lane returns to her hometown of Sweetheart, Arizona with one thing on her mind: killing the man who murdered her family.
But first, she’ll have to find him. As Ethel navigates the eccentric town and its inhabitants, she learns that the quaint veneer hides a brewing darkness. She has no choice but to descend into a ring of depravity and violence, with her only ally an Old West novel that follows famed gunslinger Solomon Eaton.
As both stories unfold simultaneously, a love of fiction informs choices in reality, for better or worse. From the minds of Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson (The Dregs, X-Men, HER INFERNAL DESCENT) and artist Sami Kivela (Abbot, Tommy Gun Wizards) comes a neo-western that depicts the hard truth of seeking vengeance in the real world.
Revenge? Yes. Western style? Yes. Are Western style books coming back? Sure seems like there’s more that are hitting shelves in the coming months.
Alienated #1 (of 6) (Cover A – Wildgoose)
Acclaimed writer Simon Spurrier (John Constantine Hellblazer, Coda) and artist Chris Wildgoose (Batgirl, Batman: Nightwalker) present a subversive coming-of-age story about about having all the power to change the world but the unready hands to truly wield it.
Three teenagers, each an outcast in their own way, stumble upon an unearthly entity as it’s born. As they bond over this shared secret and the creature’s incredible abilities, it becomes clear to the teenagers that their cute little pet is a super-predator in the making – and it’s in need of prey. Guided by the best intentions at first, the teens’ decisions soon become corrupted by adolescent desires, small town jealousies, and internal rivalries, sending them into a catastrophic spiral of their own making.
Spurrier is hit or miss for me, but it’s a definite check it out book.
For Sherlock, there was only ever one woman – now Irene Adler is on a mission to take down Moriarty!
It’s the League of Extraordinary Gentlewomen, as Adler teams up with a host of famous female faces from science, history and literature to defeat the greatest criminal mastermind of all time!
I love a good Sherlock type of story.
Helen wakes up marooned on a lifeless alien planet 300 light years from Earth with no memories beyond a hazy sense of extinction-level urgency to return to Earth.
Joined by Arther, her strange robot companion, she explores the planet to find materials necessary to repair her ship. However, circumstances are not as straightforward as they seem. Along the way, Helen’s most painful memories return as monstrous manifestations hell-bent on her destruction.
Canopus is Castaway meets Annihilation, with a healthy dose of ‘Phillip K. Dick’ thrown in for good measure!
Okay, I’m not a big fan of the “woke up with no memory.. ” synopsis (it’s just done all too often.. might as well start off the story with “It was a dark and stormy night… “) but if the rest of the story is good, I’ll check it out.
Godkillers #1 (Cover A – Haun)
Abdul Alhazred is an Arab-American folklore professor-turned-soldier whose fear of death stems from uncertainty about the existence of an afterlife.
Then he joins THE GODKILLERS, a special forces unit tasked with ?ghting insurgents who use mythological creatures as weapons of mass destruction. Now that he knows that the supernatural exists, he’ll have to decide which is worse – death or the nightmarish monsters he thought were mere legends.
From writer Mark Sable (Grounded, Fearless, Supergirl) and newcomer artist Maan House, THE GODKILLERS is a monster story for the modern age.
Could be a good book if the story and art are on par…
Time travel is real! Scientific prodigy Randall Patton has had a breakthrough that allows travel through the timestream, which immediately led to the creation of The Argus, the temporal law enforcement organization that polices the time/space continuum.
After an accident renders one of the members of The Argus insane, he begins killing off the others – except they are all versions of Randall Patton from various points in his own life! Who can stop Randall but himself?
Time travel story? Sign me up, at least to check out.