Comics I’m Picking Up the Week of May 29, 2019

Here are the books I’m looking forward to seeing at my local comic store the week of May 29, 2019.

Dog Days of Summer

Publisher: DC Comics
Words/Story: G. Willow Wilson, Joshua Williamson, Mariko Tamaki, Dan DiDio, Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and others
Art/Colors: Stejpan Sejic, Tom Raney, Cully Hamner, Kyle Hotz, Cian Tormey, and others

“‘Who let the dogs out?’ DC does this summer as we unleash the beast within and join Krypto and Superman; Bat-Cow and Batman; Wonder Woman and Ferdinand; and many more for eight sun-kissed stories in this can’t-miss animal-sized spectacular!”

Category: Return to a Beloved World

Why I’m Excited: DC’s history of animal comics is long and wonderful: Supergirl’s horse, Batman’s hound, Detective Chimp, Krypto, not to mention Aquaman’s dolphins. If it weren’t for Kanga and the Legion of Super Pets, the recent Marvel additions of Jonathan (the Wolverine) and Tippy Toe might not have happened. My love of anthropomorphic animal comics is well documented in these previews so it’s not a surprise that I’m all in for a comic with Bat-Cow on the cover. Also, I may buy two because the budget I allotted for the now-canceled Marvel Summer Special has got to go somewhere.

DC Comics

X-Men Grand Design: X-Tinction

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Words/Story: Ed Piskor
Art/Colors: Ed Piskor

“The series that has critics and fans raving returns for its final installment! The ruination of the X-Men revisited! Re-live the now-classic storylines like Mutant Massacre and the Fall of the Mutants. With appearances by Longshot, Cable, and the Marauders! ”

Category: Return to a Beloved World

Why I’m Excited: This is the third era by the Grand Design series and it covers the time period when I began my love affair with Mutants. In some ways you could say I joined the X-Men when Alison Blaire did in #214, but that’s a separate story. What’s been great about Ed Piskor’s work is that through sheer willpower and obvious talent he has gotten the opportunity to tell both his story of the franchise (and in many ways his story with the franchise). Rather than wallow in jealousy, I’m supporting a fellow fan in their appreciation of characters and stories that are inseparable from my love of comics.

Marvel Comics

Killer Groove

Publisher: AfterShock Comics
Words/Story: Ollie Masters
Art/Colors: Eoin Marron

“In 1970’s Los Angeles, Jonny is one of the thousands of musicians trying to make it big, while working a crummy bar job and getting drunk with his whiskey-soaked P.I. friend Jackie. When Jonny gets tangled up with a local mob hitman, he not only finds a new and violent career, but maybe the inspiration for his music as well. . . . The next rock ‘n’ roll crime sensation, with a beat that’ll kill you dead.”

Category: Tried and true Creators

Why I’m Excited: Ollie Masters wrote one of the best crime comics of the last decade; The Kitchen was a well-crafted look at the mob life from a perspective not often explored. There may be some behind-the-scenes Armageddon versus Deep Impact competition with Image Comics’ Gunning For Hits, but I’m excited to see a master work with the characters that in so many stories act only as background. If they do a Spotify playlist too, I would be doubly happy.

AfterShock Comics

She Said Destroy

Publisher: Vault Comics
Words/Story: Joe Corallo
Art/Colors: Liana Kangas

“Over millennia, Brigid, Goddess of the Sun, has conquered and converted the entire solar system into worshipping her and her alone, save one space colony. The witches of Fey are the last believers of the Morrigan, Goddess of Death, Brigid’s sister and the only other God left. As Brigid’s forces prepare for one final battle, the Morrigan prepares to do what she does best: Destroy!”

Category: Support Emerging Creators

Why I’m Excited: As the Big Two publishers were swallowed into large IP management conglomerates, their appetite for creative risk taking is becoming very limited. A long track record and/or name recognition (at least in comic circles) have become prerequisites to new launch ideas in the mass market. Nearer the opposite side of the risk spectrum are Vault and Scout comics. With She Said Destroy, I’m anticipating a set of visual poems about the waring instincts of design and despair (a.k.a. my undergrad philosophy project if I could have had access to Photoshop).

Vault Comics

Also out this week: A Stranger Things tie-in about “Six” from Dark Horse; a reboot of Joss Whedon’s Angel from BOOM! Studios to complement last week’s of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Volume 1. Congrats @whoajordie!

See you at the racks!