Tuesday, May 31, 2005

This week's Premiers - new titles coming out THURSDAY June 2

note the date change this week - comics come out Thursday.

NEW BOOKS (#1 Issues)

Emo Boy #1 - published by Slave Labor/Amaze Ink, written & drawn by Steve Emond. Emo Boy, an outsider who is constantly physically and mentally bullied, uses his super-human sensitivity to sabotage his own happiness and his unpredictable emo powers to confound his enemies. In this issue Emo Boy joins a band! Fellow classmates recruit Emo Boy to write a song for their band. But when a cute blonde is singing his words, will his emo screw everything up? Yes, it will. Learn the dark and mysterious secret that Emo Boy holds, and then read the Emo Boy interview and learn some less dark and mysterious secrets. Emo Boy is, as it’s creator, Emond puts it, "about a character and a story and high school and being alienated and alienating yourself, about silly stories and first loves (and a lack thereof), and finding yourself and growing up and all that good stuff," but it's also about a wicked case of schadenfreude. I looked at an 8-page preview of this one. The art is fun – kind of Archie with a kick. Emo is a “nerd” picked on by the popular kids, has a crush on the leader of the popular kid’s band’s lead singer, Jenny. The writing is kind of poetic, and reflective of the internal struggle many teens go through. This comic is black & white.

Fathom Prelude #1 – published by Aspen Studios and Dynamite Entertainment, by JT Krul (with Michael Turner), Ale Garza & Beth Sotelo. This is an original story featuring the flagship creation of Turner’s Aspen. This features a look at the young Aspen Mathews as she develops into the heroine we all know today. Any Aspen and/or Fathom fan should check this out.

Lethal Instinct #1 – published by Alias Entertainment, by Soares, Baehr, Thompson, Jadson, Jose’ Dias & Outlaw (why are so many comic book creators going with one-name’s lately? Some new trend? Anyway, back to business). Frank Aaron, a police officer in Blackstone City, carries a curse in the form of severe Lycanthropy – he’s a werewolf. Sharing the secret of his plight with Dr. Carl Sanchez and his homicide partner Daniel Whitman, Frank hopes to control or end his curse in order to join the “Special Division” which deals in superhuman and paranormal cases, so that he can help those like himself. This is like a Law & Order: SVU, only with werewolves. The art looks fantastic, and the premise of the story sounds interesting enough to give it a try. This comic was originally solicited in February, so it’s a bit late, but the cover price is $.75, so it might be worth checking out.

Avatar Press seems to be home to comics based on TV/movie properties. This week they’ve got two launching:
Nightmare on Elm Street #1, by Brian Pulido and Jose Ryp. This story is supposed to pick up where the Freddy Vs. Jason movie left off. The adults of Springwood have turned the town into a police state, out to suppress any knowledge of Freddy so that their kids don’t keep dying. If tees are afraid of Freddy, he can invade their dreams and murder them. But as a lost secret, he is powerless. Emily, a rebellious teen and aspiring journalist wants to blow the lid off Springwood’s secret and tell it to the world. When her best friend Lindsay is abducted by police, Emily enlists aid from Alex and Sandy that leads them to Westin Hills Psychiatric Center. As Freddy hunts them one by one, Emily comes closer to the truth. Will she survive to tell it?

Texas Chain Saw Massacre #1, also by Brian Pulido along with Jacen Burrows. Fuller, Texas. Summer 1972. Three escaped convicts, along with a few girls alone for the ride, are joy riding across rural Texas robbing banks, heading for Mexico. When they stop to rob the Hewitt family General store, they enter a horrifying world of madness and depravity that even a maximum security prison couldn’t prepare them for as Leatherface, Sheriff Hoyt, Old Monty and the entire Hewitt clan hunt them down.


Summer heats up as Marvel launches a few new books this week, one of which could be the biggest of the summer!

Last Hero Standing #1 (of 5), written by Tom Defalco, penciled by Pat Olliffe. This book will be coming out weekly. The great heroes of the Marvel Universe are vanishing without a trace! What has happened to Spider-Man, the Thing, the Scarlet Witch, Captain America and the rest of the MU’s heavy hitters? Spider-Girl, the Fantastic Five and A-Next must join forces with today’s superstars to uncover the answer—and the trail leads to a major Avengers villain! This looks to be an interesting all-ages title, especially for you Avenger fans out there.

Ororo Before the Storm #1 (of 4), written by Marc Sumerak, penciled by Carlos Barberi. The back alleys of Cairo’s thieves’ quarter are no place for a child to grow up—unless that child is destined to be one of the greatest Marvel heroines of all time. Long before she became the X-Man known as Storm, a young orphan named Ororo Munroe stalked the streets of Cairo picking pockets and scraping to survive. Get ready for some awesome Egyptian action and adventure as Ororo leads her fellow street urchins on the adventure of a lifetime! This all-age book is a must-have for you X-Men fans!

House of M #1, written by Brian Michael Bendis, Pencils and cover by Oliver Coipel. They are calling this the Marvel event of the decade. I know it’s HUGE, spinning out of Avengers, evolving from Excalibur and Astonishing X-Men and New Avengers - some of Marvel’s hottest titles. The Avengers and the X-Men are faced with a common foe that becomes their greatest threat: Wanda Maximoff! The Scarlet Witch is out of control and the fate of the entire world is in her hands. Will Magneto help his daughter or use her powers to his own benefit? Marvel claims that nothing in the Marvel Universe will ever be the same again. We will see! I previewed the first half of the book, and it looked AWESOME. I love Coipel’s art (it’s very similar to Greg Land’s work in X-Men Phoenix Endsong) in this book, and of course Bendis is no slouch. The story seemed well crafted from what I could tell from this preview. One downside – this book will involve a HUGE Marvel crossover of 17 titles (48 total issues), so if you want to follow it that closely, be prepared. But if it’s as good as Marvel promises it will be, I think that those of you who do take the plunge into the entire series will be so glad you did. And for those that aren’t ready or able to make that kind of a purchasing commitment to a story, I recommend that you at least check out the House of M title, and consider 3 mini-series spin off books: Spider-Man House of M, Iron Man House of M, and Fantastic Four House of M. Each of those are 3 issues a piece.

Of course, DC couldn’t be left out of the action. They have Son of Vulcan #1 (of 6) premiering this week, written by Scott Beatty with art and cover by Keron Grant. Orphan Mikey Devante was just looking for an after-school job at a local fast-food restaurant. But caught between the Floronic Man, bent on liberating the salad bar from carb-conscious consumers, and Vulcan, a flame-wielding hero determined to sauté the poisonous Plant Master, Mikey may have bitten off more than he can chew – especially when he’s hand-picked to become Vulcan’s newest sidekick! But how will Mikey learn the ropes of heroism when Vulcan bites the dust before training him? Find out as this 6-issue miniseries begins!

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