Here’s the spotlight new books (and some trade/hardcovers/omnibuses) coming out of June for the small publishers which includes Dark Horse, Image and IDW.
Dark Horse Titles
Minor Threats #1 could be fun. I like the retro Marvel feel with the trade dress for this one.
Minor Threats #1 (Mike Mignola with Dave Stewart Variant Cover)
Minor Threats #1 (Variant Cover)
“It’s hard out there for a supervillain. Not the world conquerors, chaos engines, or arch-nemeses . . . but the little guys. The ones who put on uniforms, knock over jewelry stores, and get tied to poles. And things are about to get worse. The psychotic Stickman has murdered Kid Dusk, sidekick to Twilight City’s premier crime-fighter, the Insomniac. The Insomniac’s teammates are tearing Twilight apart, turning it into a police state-desperate to capture Stickman and stop the Insomniac from ‘crossing that final line’ in which he may never come back from. Caught in the middle are the small-time c-list villains, finding it impossible to walk down the street without being harassed by these heroes. With a bounty on the Stickman’s head, former villain Playtime decides to assemble a ragtag team of villains to take down the Stickman and kill him themselves.”
Survival Street #1 is hopefully some entertaining bathroom read type of book. Looking forward to it and hope it’s entertaining.
Survival Street #1 (Benjamin Dewey Variant Cover)
“Survival Street is a unrepentant action satire tearing through a dystopia packed with economic and humanistic cautionary tales. After an unbridled wave of corporations take over America, the country is left completely deregulated and effectively carved up into feudal states where billionaires and businesses make their own laws. Among the wreckage, mass privatization shuts down public broadcasting, forcing all the beloved ‘edutainers’ out on the down and dirty streets. One group of them stick together, determined to keep helping kids across the country and do it by becoming an A-Team-esque band of mercenaries fighting for (and educating!) kids in the crumbling, corporate war zone of New Best America. o James Asmus is the lead writer and five-time Harvey Award nominee currently writing Rick & Morty: Corporate Assets, Transformers/My Little Pony crossover miniseries, and more!”
Organisms from an Ancient Cosmos HC has my attention because who doesn’t like alien invasion stories? I would welcome an alien invasion so it would unite the world by making our pathetic leaders tuck away their silly differences in order for us to survive such hostile alien invasion. And if they don’t, well, we can only hope the aliens target the leaders first! Haha!
“A supernatural sci-fi graphic novel written and illustrated by S. Craig Zahler, the award-winning film director of Bone Tomahawk, Brawl on Cell Block 99, and Dragged Across Concrete. An alien spacecraft the size of a city materializes over the Pacific Ocean, and the nations of the world jointly engage this enigmatic and incommunicative visitor with force. This battle results in large-scale destruction on both sides, but does not answer any of the questions that will haunt humanity: What are these utterly inhuman creatures? Where did they come from? Why did they choose to visit our planet? And . . . most importantly . . . are more forces on the way? For the bereaved billionaire Carlton Land, renowned biologist Aimee O’Donnell, and the brilliant but blunt USAAF Chief Scientist Kenneth Yamazaki, these questions must be answered in order to safeguard the future of the human race. Collects the original graphic novel published as an oversized hardcover with black and white art; this story is a haunting odyssey that you will not want to miss.”
And Star Wars: Tales from the Rancors Pit HC got mentioned in my Star Wars Upcoming Titles article but worthy of a mention again.
IDW Books
I missed last month’s small publisher picks so Dark Spaces Wildfire #1 Cover A would have made that list since Dark Spaces Wildfire #2 (Cover A – Sherman) is part of June’s solicitations. Looks like it might be a fun book. Is this the first time Scott Snyder has done a book for IDW?
Dark Spaces Wildfire #2 (Cover B – Sorrentino)
Dark Spaces Wildfire #2 Cover C
Dark Spaces Wildfire #2 Cover D
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Armageddon Game #1 (Cover A – Federici) is a new TMNT title. Federici is doing the regular cover but no cover art as of yet with Eastman doing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Armageddon Game #1 (Cover B – Eastman).
Trve Kvlt #1 (Cover A – Liana Kangas) sounds like good entertainment. Might be bathroom material but burger flipper doing a heist, what could possibly go wrong?
Trve Kvlt #1 (Cover B – Llovet)
Trve Kvlt #1 (Cover C – Lelay)
Image Titles
20th Century Man #1 (of 6) (Cover A – Morian) won me when it mentioned WWIII. Hoping for a decent read at minimum because that’s all you can really count on when it comes to Image titles. It’s either good or not, there is no in-between most of the time.
20th Century Man #1 (of 6) (Cover B – Kordey)
“EXTRA-LENGTH FIRST ISSUE! At the end of the 20th century, superheroes, geniuses, madmen, and activists rush towards WWIII! A Soviet ‘iron’ hero, a superpowered American president, an insane cyborg soldier, an Afghan woman hellbent on building a better life for her people-these strange yet familiar beings collide in a story that mixes history, politics, and comic book mythology into something totally new. Welcome to 20TH CENTURY MEN, where the edges of our reality and fiction touch, overlap…and then explode.”
Above Snakes #1 (of 5) was last month, which was missed but Sean Lewis is hit or miss with me. But I’m willing to give this one a try as I love a good western themed story. Above Snakes #2 (of 5) is in June’s solicits.
Dead Lucky #1 (Cover A – Carlomagno) is a debut comic and title for Melissa Flores. I’ll give it a go. It’s part of the new Massive-Verse Image is working on.
Dead Lucky #1 (Cover B – Sabbatini & Mafuriah)
“SERIES PREMIERE San Francisco is changing. Tech consortium Morrow is building the city of the future with ‘peacekeeper’ robots looming on every corner-and wherever Morrow isn’t, the Salvation gang is. Bibiana Lopez-Yang is changing too. She came back from Afghanistan with PTSD and the ability to control electrical currents. If she can hold it together, she might be the hero San Francisco needs. But against an enemy this big, it isn’t enough to be good. She’ll have to be lucky. From debut writer MELISSA FLORES and superstar art team FRENCH CARLOMAGNO and MATTIA IACONO (RADIANT BLACK) comes the newest book in the MASSIVE-VERSE!”
I’ll know after reading the first issue if I’m in it or not with Deadliest Bouquet #1 (of 5) (Cover A – Melo).
Deadliest Bouquet #1 (of 5) (Cover B – Alterici)
Deadliest Bouquet #1 (of 5) (Cover C – Kangas)
“MINISERIES PREMIERE Jasmine Hawthorn was a hard-edged Nazi hunter who trained her children well in the art of espionage. But in 1998, when her complicated past finally catches up with her, it’s up to her three estranged daughters, Rose, Poppy, and Violet, to solve their mom’s murder-if they can avoid killing each other in the process.”
Golden Rage #1 (of 5) (Cover A – Knight) sounds like a take from the Ray Liotta (RIP Ray, you were the best!) movie No Escape. Hmmm…
Golden Rage #1 (of 5) (Cover B – Lotay)
“MINISERIES PREMIERE In a world where older women who’ve been deemed useless to society are abandoned on an island, GOLDEN RAGE documents their golden years of making friends, baking dessert, and fighting to the death. Created by writer CHRISSY WILLIAMS (editor of DIE, THE WICKED + THE DIVINE), artist LAUREN KNIGHT (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and colorist SOFIE DODGSON (BITTER ROOT, Tank Girl), this is the FIRST ISSUE of a brand-new five-issue miniseries where Battle Royale meets The Golden Girls.”
Tom King might suck at writing Batman but his other works are usually spot on. Love Everlasting #1 (Cover A – Charretier) sounds like an interesting title worthy of checking out. Image must have faith in it, doing not the usual 2 covers but 5 covers to kick this one off.
Love Everlasting #1 (Cover B – Mann)
Love Everlasting #1 (Cover C – Charretier)
Love Everlasting #1 (Cover D – Lotay)
Love Everlasting #1 (Cover E – Frison)
“From award-winning superstar creators TOM KING & ELSA CHARRETIER comes a new ONGOING SERIES set in a world as frighteningly fantastical as any found beyond the stars: Romance Comics! Joan Peterson discovers that she is trapped in an endless cycle-a problem to be solved, a man to marry-and every time she falls in love, she disappears into another teary saga. Her bloody journey to freedom starts in this breathtaking, groundbreaking FIRST ISSUE.”
I like Shalvey’s work most of the time so Old Dog #1 (Cover A – Shalvey) is a pick up to check out for sure.
Old Dog #1 (Cover B – Martin)
Old Dog #1 (Cover C – Blank Sketch Cover)
“Jack Lynch was a once-promising CIA operative. On the eve of retirement, looking back at a failed career, he is tasked with one final mission…that goes horribly wrong. He wakes years later to a changed world and deeper changes within him. When a shadow group offers Lynch a second chance at a life of adventure, he’s paired with the last person he could ever imagine. In order to adjust, this old dog will have to learn some new tricks… OLD DOG is a striking new spy-fi series by DECLAN SHALVEY, the accomplished and innovative creator behind books such as Moon Knight, X-Men Unlimited, INJECTION, and TIME BEFORE TIME. The Winter Soldier meets Mission Impossible in this Bourne-esque action/espionage blowout.”
Starhenge Dragon & Boar #1 (of 6) (Cover A – Sharp) was last month as the second issue is solicited for June but this series looks awesome. Time traveling Merlin with killer robots. Ummm, yeah!
“MINISERIES PREMIERE Revered creator LIAM SHARP cuts loose in his visually stunning six-issue masterpiece, STARHENGE, BOOK ONE! A future Merlin travels to 5th-century Britain to prevent monstrous time-traveling killer robots from robbing the universe of magic, and Amber Weaver’s lively present-day narrative reveals how she becomes drawn into a war across time! The Terminator meets The Green Knight in 30 enthralling story pages, setting the scene for this original epic inspired by the Arthurian sagas!”
Starhenge Dragon & Boar #2 (of 6) (Cover A – Sharp)
Starhenge Dragon & Boar #2 (of 6) (Cover B – Sharp)
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