A Stroll Through the Previews Catalog - June 2010 (Part 1)

Another month and another Previews catalog is upon us. In this new monthly feature I’ll be flipping through the giant catalog of nerd-goodies to see what interests me, what I will purchase and what I will be avoiding. Comics, toys, books…Previews has it all.


For those that don’t know, Previews is a huge catalog that comes out monthly and features all of the comics, toys, collectibles and what-not that will be coming to your local comic shop in the future.

We begin with this month’s cover, featuring J. Michael Straczynski & Shane Davis’ Superman : Earth One graphic novel. I’m kind of excited about this new line of OGNs. They will be re-imagining the big names in the DC Universe with superstar creators. It reminds me of either the All Star line from DC or Marvel’s Ultimate Universe, both of which I enjoyed. Instead of releasing these in monthly issues, they will be released as hardcover graphic novels. I may not pick this up as soon as it comes out but I will definitely be checking this out as soon as I can.

Nothing that really interests me in the Dark Horse section, so we move on to DC. Green Lantern #57 features a chained Star Sapphire Carol Ferris and promises to reveal more about the avatar of the Violet Lanterns, the Predator. No, not the creepy alien that fought Arnold, this is the first male Star Sapphire supposedly. Green Lantern : Emerald Warriors #1 is the next bit of interest. This title will most likely replace GL Corps in my pull list when it comes out due to the fact that it will focus on Guy Gardner, one of my favorite GL Corps members. This book also signals DC’s move to regular size comic $3.99 pricing. Moving the books up $1.00 may put a bit of a dent in my regular purchasing, but we’ll see how many move up in price.

Batman and Robin #15’s cover is sweet. Is this showing the “deal with the devil” that Damien refers to way back in Batman #666? Also, Neal Adams’ Batman : Odyssey is coming out. Not sure if I’ll pick this up or not. I love Adams’ previous work on Batman but the last time an old creator came back to the book, Denny O’Neill, I was extremely disappointed. I’ll play it by ear.

Moving on to the Superman titles : Elseworlds is Back! I was a huge fan of the Elseworlds books and hope this signals a return to these fantasy stories. I’m also considering picking up Action Comics again since the first new arc after the Kryptonian War focuses on my favorite baddie, Lex Luthor.

Then, suddenly on page 197, I see something that I must have! The action figures from the excellent Batman : Arkham Asylum video game are coming in January 2011! I’ll definitely be ordering the Harley Quinn for my wife’s DC Ladies collection, and I may pick up the Joker for myself. They do have a Series 2 coming out in February so I hope that Poison Ivy is included in that one. Page 140 shows us the next in the line of Adam Hughes’ Covergirls of the DC Universe porcelain statues featuring Supergirl. My wife has the Power Girl and Wonder Woman statues but this one just doesn’t do anything for me. Not sure exactly why, though. It’s just kind of “meh”.

Page 147 shows us Issue 2 of the True Blood comic coming out from IDW. I will be ordering these with the J. Scott Campbell covers. My wife is a huge True Blood fan and got me into watching it too.

Page 176 brings us into Image Comics territory and a book called Nancy in Hell grabbed my attention. Written by El Torres and illustrated by the phenomenal Juan Jose Ryp. I’m curious if this is supposed to be Nancy Spungen of Sid & Nancy fame or just a random character named Nancy. The solicit doesn’t say so I guess I’ll have to find out. I also just realized that I haven’t seen the latest issue of Bomb Queen or any solicits for it. Wonder if that title got dropped? I wouldn’t be surprised but I was enjoying it. Oh well…

Skipping through Top Cow, Aspen and Avatar…nothing of interest right now. Bongo Comics has been solicting the very interesting Death of Comic Book Guy mini-series. I’m not a regular reader of Simpsons Comics (which is weird, because I’m a huge fan of the show) but the last “event” they did, the Radioactive Man Event, was hilarious. Moonstone brings us Zombies VS Cheerleaders on page 300, how can that be bad?

Last Days of American Crime finishes up in August, I have really been enjoying this story so far. Check it out if you like gritty noir but with a slightly futuristic setting (and I mean very slightly futuristic). Torchwood is getting a comic written by show star John Barrowman, that might be interesting. Zenescope’s Salem’s Daughter #5 features a Rob Leifeld cover…love him or hate him, that cover is hot.

Check back in the next few days for Part 2!