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The Bum’s Rush #44
Anticipation II: Anticipate HARDER! Part Two
This week I’m going to talk about even more comics I’m
looking forward to with the kind of fanboy glee that
frightens women and causes grown men to turn away in horror
and disgust!
Click on images to view full
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 52 (DC Comics) – Written by Mark Waid, Geoff Johns,
Greg Rucka and Grant Morrison. Art by Various. Starting in
March all of DC’s comics will jump ahead one year from the
conclusion of
Infinite Crisis and things will have
changed significantly. But what exactly happened during this
missing year that led to the significant changes we’ll be
seeing? The answers will come in 52, one of the most
ambitious comic book projects ever attempted. 52 is a
weekly series, exactly 52 issues in length
(surprise!) that will follow a number of DC’s major players
as they cope with the aftermath of Infinite Crisis,
while the world learns to cope without Superman, Batman and
Wonder Woman. As interested as I am to see the story itself
play out over the next year, with its goal of bringing the
entire DCU into sharp focus post-Infinite Crisis, I’m
equally as interested to see if DC will actually be able to
pull it off. One continuous story, one issue a week, for an
entire year. Could it be one of DC’s greatest successes? Or
it’s biggest blunder? With the writing team they’ve
assembled, arguably four of the most popular and successful
writers in the biz, it’s hard to imagine it being the
latter. And if you’ve read any of the numerous interviews
with the creators involved you’ll discover that their
enthusiasm for this project is so high that it’s actually
infectious. Come on, I’ve got 52 fever! How about
you?
 Hellboy: Darkness Calls (Dark Horse Comics) – Written
by Mike Mignola. Art by Duncan Fegredo.
Hellboy is
one of my absolute favorite books to read… when it comes
out. Usually the book is worth the wait and I’m more than
willing to bide my time until Mignola shows up to knock
another one out of the park. Lately the time between books
has grown, with over two years in between the release of
Hellboy: The Third Wish and the latest series,
Hellboy: The Island (both series are collected in the
upcoming
Hellboy: Strange Places. And both of those series were
only two issues apiece. Granted, they were damn fine issues
and packed more entertainment than most ongoing series, but
still… I want more Hellboy! The ongoing slate of
BPRD mini-series does help a little, but there’s nothing
like Mignola working on straight up monster-bashing,
folklore laced tales of Hellboy himself. And that’s why I’m
so excited about the upcoming release of Hellboy:
Darkness Calls, a brand new 6-issue mini-series that
picks up where The Island left off and reveals even
more terrifying and wonderful secrets about the origins of
Hellboy! The bad news? Mignola’s not drawing this one. The
good news? Duncan Fegredo is! Fegredo is an amazing
artist whose regular work, much like Mignola himself, is
seen all too rarely. He’s got the right look, a moody,
hard-edged style that makes him a perfect successor to
Mignola. While I hope and pray that Mignola will one day
both write and draw the character he made so famous, I can’t
wait to see what Fegredo does with Hellboy!
 Wolfskin (Avatar Press) – Written by Warren Ellis.
Art by Juan Jose Ryp. Warren Ellis does Conan. And
you know what that means swords, drugs, murder gods, lots of
blood, lots of violence and lots and lots of sick, twisted
humor. And swearing. A whole wet bucketful of nasty
swearing. This is a different kind of book for Ellis, who
usually specializes in stories about ultra-hip, cooler-than
you’ll-ever-be characters doing amazingly mindblowing things
in a cutting edge, hyper-realistic and not too distant
future world. I’m really looking forward to seeing what
he’ll do with this barbarian tale, which sounds like a cross
between Conan the Barbarian,
Yojimbo and a Quentin Tarantino flick. Plus there’s the
art of the super-talented
Juan Jose Ryp to look at!
This guy’s art reminds me of Geof Darrow, but with an
amazing amount of energy and anger. Be warned, Wolfskin
isn’t going to be a book for the feint of heart.
 Ex Machina Special (Wildstorm) – Written by Brian K.
Vaugh. Art by Chris Sprouse. Probably one of the most unique
books out there, a “real world” look at superheroes that
actually seems like it could take place in the real world.
The two-issue special takes a look at New York Mayor
Mitchell Hundred’s past, when he was the world’s first
superhero, The Great Machine and explores the mysterious
origin of his greatest nemesis, Jack Pherson.
Ex Machina is one of my favorite monthly books and any
chance to get even more Ex Machina is a chance I won’t pass
up. Especially when it’s drawn by a badass like Chris Sprouse, whose work gets better and
better with every project.
 Punisher: The Tyger (Marvel Comics/MAX) – Written by
Garth Ennis. Art by John Severin. Since moving to MAX,
Marvel’s mature readers imprint,
The Punisher has been THE hardest hitting, brutal
and most unforgiving comic on the shelves. Every brilliant
arc hits you in the face like a slug fired from a Magnum.
Like Kirby and Lee did with Fantastic Four and Frank Miller
did with Daredevil, Garth Ennis does the absolute definitive
Punisher. This brand new, 56-page one-shot (originally
slated for release late last year) delves even further into
Frank Castle’s past than ever, before the death of his
family, before Vietnam, as a 10-year-old Frank comes face to
face with true evil for the first time on the rough streets
of Brooklyn. If The Tyger is even half as good as Ennis’
previous Punisher one-shot, The Cell, then it’s something
you’re going to definitely have to read! Did I mention it’s
being drawn by comics’ legend, John Severin! This guy, at 85
years old, can draw circles around any one else in the
industry… period.
Quick Bits
Warning! Nothing you read here in Quick Bits should be
considered FACT until it actually happens. Which it might
not. How do you know I’m not just making all this crap up? I
could, you know. You’ve been warned!
- Bryan Lee O’Malley’s
Scott Pilgrim is my new
favorite comic book character! Man, what a great book.
Everyone should be reading it!
- My father actually beat me to the punch on this piece of
news. Frank Miller has announced that his next project will
be an original graphic novel, 200 pages in length, titled
Holy Terror, Batman! The book will revolve around
terrorists, specifically al-Qaeda, attacking Gotham City,
prompting Batman to hunt down the men responsible. According
to Miller “… it is a piece of propaganda. Batman kicks
al-Qaeda’s ass.” Miller says the book will have a pulp feel
and compares the tale to the comics of the 40’s in which
popular icons like Superman and Captain America would
routinely take on Nazi’s and even punch out Hitler. He is
currently 120 pages into the book and says, “… it’s the best
artwork I’ve ever done.” I watched a video (http://www.spacecast.com/videoplayer_1696.aspx)
in which Miller shows off some of the pages and the artwork
definitely looks great, at least as good (if not better) as
his work on Sin City and 300. When I first saw this story I
thought it was a joke… it kinda sounds like a joke doesn’t
it? But, folks, I’ve seen the art. It’s very real and I’m
actually kind of looking forward to it.
- Paul Jenkins and Ramon Bachs, hot off the popular Generation
M mini-series, were originally slated to take over The Pulse
from the outgoing Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos.
Now it appears that that’s no longer the case. Instead The
Pulse will end with issue #14, Bendis’ last. Whether this is
a permanent cancellation or just a hiatus has not been
announced. Jenkins and Bachs will instead be working on a
10-issue, bi-weekly series launching in June, titled Civil
War: Frontline. According to Jenkins the series was created
in order to limit the amount of spin-offs from the Civil War
event, something that retailers had complained about in
regards to Marvel’s previous event book, House of M. Rather
than doing a number of spin-off series in connection with
the Civil War mini-series, all of the possible spin-off
stories will be collected into the Frontline series, each
issue of which will be double-sized with no ads! The main
story, called “Civil War: Embedded”, will focus on reporters
Sally Floyd (from Generation M) and Ben Urich as they report
on the Civil War from the front lines. Other Civil War
stories will be featured in the book as well, focusing on
individual characters and the effects that the Civil War has
on them. While this does seem a bit like Marvel’s take on
what DC is doing with their series, 52, I can’t say it’s a
terrible idea. It may actually be terribly smart, if it will
help Marvel avoid repeating the mistakes of House of M,
notably the endless number of spin-offs and tie-in books. I
have to admit, the more I read about this little Civil War
thing, the more intrigued I become and the more I feel like
getting the book when it comes out. Hey, I’m as surprised as
you are.
-
 Is Thor going to make his big comeback during the Civil War?
If this cover to Fantastic Four #536 is any indication it
sure looks like it.
- Speaking of the Fantastic Four, apparently two of them are
going to die in the upcoming Fantastic Four: Death in the
Family one-shot by Karl Kesel and Lee Weeks. Really? Weird.
- And hey, speaking of death, (SPOILER ALERT!!) Alpha Flight
just bit it in the last issue New Avengers! But don’t fret
(if you even care at all) because according to Mark Millar
the team will resurface in the pages of Civil War (that book
again?) which will supposedly pave the way for a very
high-profile relaunch following that series’ conclusion.
Whether or not the NEW Alpha Flight (I’ll just bet a million
dollars that’s what the book will be called) will feature
any of the old team has not been revealed… though I kinda
doubt it. Trust me, they didn’t look too good last time I
saw ‘em.
- Grant Morrison and Jim Lee’s Wildcats series will ship
bi-monthly, alternating months with Lee’s All Star Batman.
Likewise, Morrison and Gene Ha’s Authority series will also
ship bi-monthly, presumably to give the notoriously slow Ha
the lead-time he needs.
- DC has announced the line-up of artists who will be working
on their weekly, yearlong series, 52. Joe Bennet will
illustrate the first four issues, followed by artists Ken
Lashley (also recently announced as the artist for a new
Flash series), Chris Batista, Don Kramer and Shawn Moll. The
series will also feature back-up stories, starting with the
10-part “History of the DCU” written and drawn by Dan
Jurgens, followed by 40 two-page origin stories covering
just about every important hero in the DCU, written by Mark
Waid and illustrated by a number of artists yet to be
announced.
- For the first time in his comics’ career, writer Peter David
has signed an exclusive contract. The exclusive is a
three-year deal with Marvel Comics where he will write
several titles including
X-Factor, Friendly Neighborhood
Spiderman, a Wonder Man mini-series, several issues of the
youth-oriented Marvel Adventures Spiderman and several more
titles yet to be announced. As part of his contract, David
will still be allowed to continue on any works-in-progress
such as Fallen Angel from IDW and Soulsearchers and Company
from Claypool. He also has a how-to write comics book coming
out entitled Writing Comics With Peter David.
- Grant Morrison has announced that he’s just finished writing
the script for a We3 movie based on his successful Vertigo
mini-series from last year.
- Morrison is also planning a new series for Vertigo with
artist J.H. Williams. The series is said to be similar in
style to The Invisibles and The Filth.
- The new Justice League of America series, by Brad Meltzer
and Ed Benes, will launch in July with issue #0. The
premiere #0 issue will feature several guest artists along
with the regular creative team. Issue #1 will be released in
August.
- Dark Horse is going to publish an Art of Bone book, which
will be in a similar format to The Art of Hellboy and
The
Art of Sin City.
- Both Mark Waid and George Perez, the creative team for DC’s
previously announced team-up series, The Brave and The Bold,
have both admitted that they are unsure of when the book
will be released. Originally announced for a 2006 release,
various projects such as Waid’s involvement with 52 and
Perez’ work on Infinite Crisis have sidetracked The Brave
and The Bold. To date the only piece of art that exists for
the series is Perez’ cover for issue #1.
- According to Dan Didio, DC’s Senior VP and Executive Editor,
the company has hired an unnamed writer to create bibles for
all of their characters to make sure that they remain
consistent throughout the DCU. George Perez has acknowledged
that he is doing character art for the bibles to ensure that
their look also remains consistent.
- Although Alan Moore had previously announced that any future
editions of his book, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,
would be published through Top Shelf Productions, it seems
that Wildstorm is still scheduled to publish the next book,
The Black Dossier. The original hardcover will reveal the
history of the unique group of literary heroes from its
earliest incarnation and through to the 1950’s. The book
will feature 185 pages of story, longer than either of the
previous volumes, according to Wildstorm Executive Editor,
Scott Dunbier.
- DC Solicitations for May, 2006 are right
here.
- Marvel Solicitations for May, 2006 can be found
here.
- And Image Solicitations for May, 2006 are over
here.
NEXT WEEK: Sometimes I write comics too. Wanna hear about
‘em? Too bad, cause that’s what I’m going to talk about!
Send me hate mail at
thesuperleezard@yahoo.com
Read more stupid crap I write at
www.livejournal.com/users/superleezard
Check out my (semi) daily comic, Der Wundervolle Bean, at
www.livejournal.com/users/der_magic_bean
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