October solicitations (Previews #263) – part two

Continuing my look at the stuff featured in the August issue of Previews.

WILDSTORM

I kind of wish I had followed the DV8: Gods & Monsters mini-series, because I read a few really good comments about it. This is the penultimate issue, so hopefully there's a trade coming soon. (October 20)

I'm going to get Welcome to Tranquility: One Foot in the Grave #4 (October 13) and Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #5 (October 6), but I don't really have anything to say about them right now.

I'm not sure why the trade paperback for Two-Step is included here, since it only comes out November 17. I don't know much about this, but the art by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti is alluring.

VERTIGO

John Constantine: Hellblazer – City of Demons is a new 5-issue mini-series written by Si Spencer and illustrated by Sean Murphy, whose art in Joe the Barbarian is absolutely stunning. I've never read any John Constantine comics, so this might be a good reason to start. The first two issues come out October 13 and 17.

The "Metal" story concludes in Northlanders #33 (October 13) and the brilliant Sweet Tooth continues with issue #14 (October 6).

Unknown Soldier has been cancelled and #25 is the last issue (October 27). I've read a lot of good reviews and many people are sad to see this series end, so I would like to check out the trades eventually.

MARVEL

Carnage #1 of 5. Is this going to be any good? I don't know who Zeb Wells is, but the write-up calls him a "superstar creator."

Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis #5. Okay, the cover for this features the X-Men versus a flying army of mutant babies. It might be the best thing I've ever seen in my life. Since I missed the boat on this mini-series (this is the last issue), I will have to wait for the trade. But I definitely want to read this now.

Halo: Fall of Reach – Boot Camp #2. I think this mini-series is a prequel to a spinoff to a video game. So it can't really be any good can it? I'm just a sucker for this kind of hardcore coming-of-age story where young boys get bullied by sadistic adults in a military organization. I don't know why this appeals to me, but it does.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #15. Interesting how the famous gay kiss on the cover is conveniently cropped out of the preview here.

Secret Avengers #6. A new story arc begins with this issue. Unless the conclusion of the first arc really blows my socks off, I will most likely be dropping this title after #5.

Avengers Academy #5. I wish I'd picked up this series instead of Secret Avengers. It's a dollar cheaper and it looks like a better title. I might actually hunt down the back issues and jump on board.

Chaos War. I guess this is going to be a big cosmic event. Is this going to suck?

Of all the Thor-related titles coming up, the Loki mini-series looks like the most interesting to me. I love his insane grin on the cover of the first issue. I might check this out.

The Tomb of Terror one-shot looks like it could be good. It says it's only 32 pages, but that seems kind of short for an anthology book featuring different characters and creative teams. Man-Thing is involved.

Strange Tales vol. II #1. The list of creators involved is so long and full of awesome that I don't even know how to handle this! Rafael Grampa, Kate Beaton, Jeff Lemire, etc. Can't miss this one.

Casanova #4. Goddamn, this looks amazing! I'm so pissed that I didn't buy the first issue and now it's sold out. I looked at the second issue at the store yesterday, but why bother if I can't get it from the first issue? I guess it's wait-for-trade for me on this one.

Superior #1. Mark Millar's new mini-series. I'm not really a fan of his, but this looks like it could be good. Leinil Francis Yu's art looks really good.

I'm definitely getting the Thor and the Warriors Four Digest. I saw a lot of scans from the mini-series and it was some of the cutest art I've ever seen.

I'll finish this tomorrow with part three and a look at IDW, Image, Top Cow and whatever else is left in the catalogue.

Review: Tom Strong and the Robots of Doom #1

TOM STRONG AND THE ROBOTS OF DOOM #1 (of 6)
Written by Peter Hogan; art by Chris Sprouse, Karl Story.

Tom Strong is, as most of you probably know, a character co-created by Alan Moore (with Chris Sprouse, who's drawing this series). And of course, being a total noob, I know nothing about his previous adventures or what he's all about. So I feel like I'm probably missing something here. Peter Hogan does a good job of providing backstory within the issue, so that what is happening is fairly clear, but I can't help but feel that it would all be a little bit more compelling if I was already familiar with the characters.

In any case, this issue doesn't really get into the meat of the story yet. It takes its time setting up the premise, which is that Tom's evil son has somehow altered history and the present is now under the dominion of a global Nazi regime. This is definitely not an original premise, but it's a fun one (if it's not too offensive to think of anything involving Nazis as "fun"), and I suspect that the real thrills are going to be in seeing how Tom manages to fight his way out of this crazy situation. Oh, and also there's going to be "robots of doom" at some point! (They're only hinted at in this issue.)

So yeah, a bit of a slow start, but a lot of promise. And, oh, my God! Chris Sprouse's art is amazing. Such clean, elegant, beautiful line work. I wish every book I read could look as good as this.

One weird, little complaint, though: What's with the lettering? Why does every character use a different font to speak? It's really distracting. Especially when Tom Strong's font is so much bigger than everyone else's. Does that mean he has a very loud voice or something? Is he always shouting?