Too Much Awesome: Comics in January

Time to look at the January 2011 solicitations, as listed in Previews #266.

DARK HORSE

Hmm, there's not a single book from Dark Horse I'm interested in this month.

DC

The DC solicitations start with a bunch of random one-shots, none of which look all that interesting to me. Depending on whether or not Krul's Teen Titans gone south by then, I might check out the Wonder Girl one-shot that ties into it, otherwise I think I'm going to pass on all of these.

The new anthology mini-series Weird Worlds features "a kind-hearted monster called Garbageman." I think that speaks for itself, but you can read more about that wonderful creation in this interview with Aaron Lopresti, who will be writing and drawing that story.

Batman: Europa is a new mini-series based on a story by Brian Azzarello and Matteo Casali, with painted art by "many of the industry's top talents. This first issue is by Jim Lee, and if that cover is any indication, it's going to be really, really ugly. Not interested.

I'll probably be getting the new issues of Batman Inc, Batman and Robin, Knight and Squire, Red Robin, Birds of Prey, Action Comics, Superboy, The Flash, Adventure Comics, Legion of Super-Heroes and Teen Titans, all of which are on my regular pull list at the moment.

Superman/Batman #80 is the conclusion of a two-part story by Chris Roberson and Jesus Merino, taking place in the 853rd century, and I'm looking forward to that as well.

In the collected editions section, I noticed that the first collection of Paul Cornell's Action Comics run is going to be titled Superman: The Black Ring. Now why would they put "Superman" in the title when the character is not even featured in the story? I know, I know, the answer is probably just that his name sells better than Lex Luthor's, but that seems really disingenuous, even by DC's low standards. Is it possible that Superman does make an appearance at the end of the story Cornell has planned? I'm also confused by the fact that there's no "volume 1" attached to the title, since that collection only includes issues #890-895 and the story will not have concluded by then. Very weird.

Notice a bunch of Wildstorm titles at the end of the DC Comics section. Mostly these are mini-series that haven't yet concluded, but it's nice to see a seamless transition into DC's main imprint instead of a bunch of abrupt cancellations.

VERTIGO

Daytripper gets a trade paperback collection. I bought all the single issues, so I won't be getting this, but I highly recommend this beautiful story by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon.

I'm going to be picking up the new issues of Northlanders and Sweet Tooth. It seems like there are fewer and fewer Vertigo books of interest. I hope they're going to announce some new titles soon.

IDW

I'm not going to get sucked into this Infestation mega crossover event, featuring zombies across IDW's various licensed properties (Star Trek, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Ghostbusters), but I'll admit it's a pretty clever marketing stunt. Of course, it would maybe have a bit more impact if we hadn't seen major zombie crossover events at DC and Marvel recently. Coupled with the surge in popularity of Kirkman's Walking Dead due to the new TV series, I'd expect most people to be really sick of zombies by January. I'm pretty sure I will be.

I bought the first issue of Steve Niles and Kelley Jones' Edge of Doom mini-series this month and didn't think much of it, so I'm dropping this one.

There's a trade paperback of something called Off-Road, written and drawn by Sean Murphy. I'm assuming this was previously released as a mini-series, although the solicitation doesn't say. It's the first time I notice this title, but I'm probably going to look into it, since I really love Murphy's art.

IMAGE

I dropped Morning Glories after issue #3. I don't understand where all the positive reviews are coming from, as I found both the art and the writing to be mediocre.

And yet, here I am looking at Nick Spencer's new series, The Infinite Vacation, thinking it looks pretty cool. Art is by Christian Ward and it looks a lot more up my alley than Joe Eisma's work in Morning Glories. I'm intrigued, if not completely sold on this one.

And depending on how I like the first issues of Halcyon and Marineman (coming out in November and December, respectively), I may or may not continue reading them in January.

MARVEL

I will be getting the new issues of Avengers: Children's Crusade, Secret Avengers, and Thor. I think that's it. I dropped Avengers Academy because it hasn't been very good (and the last issue, to put it politely, sucked cock) and I'm not really tempted by anything else at the moment. Which is not a bad thing, considering my budget is already stretched thin as it is.

There's a Magneto one-shot written by Howard Chaykin and pencilled by "TBD." Awesome.

ICON

Casanova continues, with Fabio Moon taking over art duties from Gabriel Ba. They're both amazing artists, so that's cool.

I'll also be getting Mark Millar and Leinil Yu's Superior, unless something goes horribly wrong in issue #2 or #3.

BOOM!

By January, all three of Stan Lee's new series will have launched: Soldier Zero, Starborn and The Traveler. I read the first issue of Soldier Zero this week and I'm currently working on a review of it. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to continue reading it or check out those other two books when they launch, but for now I'll just say these are worth keeping an eye on.

RED 5

I have Atomic Robo and the Deadly Art of Science #3 on my pull  list.

12 GAUGE

I'm picking up the first issue of Magus in December. Depending on whether or not that's any good, I may or may not pick up the second issue in January. The premise is interesting.

And that's all for January, folks.