Hello and welcome to another comics look ahead! We hope you like the new look - we're taking the month of May and June to experiment with a new design. It's continuing to get sunnier and warmer too! Free Comic Book Day has come and gone yet again, and the store's a bit older. ....And that means it's time for another round of comics look aheads!
If you're looking to start a new series, or find a graphic novel or one-shot that's right for you, we've combed through the catalogues to find what we think are some really stand out titles. Read on and find out what caught our eye this month!
Reviews and Recommendations
This month we've got samurai and cowboys in hell together, a galaxy full of MADNESS, and a new Zatanna book just to plug a few of the new titles coming soon. June's reviews are brought to you by Max, Sloane, Elise, and Nick!
As always - if you do see something you want to order just reach out to us via the subscription update form, or send us an email and we'll get your order processed. Also let us know if you read a review that really sparked your curiosity next time you're in the shop! Feedback is always appreciated and welcome.
Fool Night
Viz Signature
By Kasumi Yasuda
I have a secret to tell you all.
I
Dislike
Capitalism.
[THE CROWD GASPS]
Shocking, I know.
I know what some of you are thinking, “but Max, mild-mannered employee of Flame Bird Picture Books and Jesters, you participate in Capitalism! HOW COULD YOU??” And to that I say, dear reader, look upon this new manga series releasing in June. I was initially intrigued by this due to its comparison to Hell’s Paradise, one of my all time favs. But then I saw the concept and I was hooked! The earth of the distant future is covered in thick clouds, and the sun no longer shines. To fight extinction, humankind has developed a technology that turns humans into plants, providing a small amount of oxygen. Kamiya is at the end of his rope. His mother is ill, and his job barely pays for her medication, much less food. With few options left, he considers the life-changing process of “floromorphosis.” Ready to give his body up for a payday, Kamiya is about to explore the limits of society's waning humanity. This new manga is asking us all the question: how far would you go for a paycheck?
- Max
Falling in Love on the Path to Hell
Image Comics
By Gerry Duggan (writer) and Garry Brown (artist)
While I am skeptical of anything that looks like a cowboys and samurai team-up book, I am a huge fan of Gerry Duggan. I’ve seen a few of the internal previews and this book looks really solid. The book pulls Asami, a female Onna-musha warrior into an unlikely team-up with MacGraith, a grizzled gunslinger who got his revenge in exchange for his life. Together the two walk the path of purgatory in the afterlife, facing off against a whole society of warriors who suffered similar fates. Falling in Love on the Path to Hell reminds in a lot of ways of Remender’s Tokyo Ghost, Hickman's East of West, or most recently Chip Zdarsky’s White Trees & Whisper Queen, and I adored all of those series.
Plus hey, it’s roughly historically accurate in that cowboys and samurai existed at roughly the same time! (See also memes about a cowboy sending a samurai a telegram).
- Nick
One for Sorrow #1
DSTLRY
By Jamie McKelvie
Store-favorite artist Jamie McKelvie (who brought you The Wicked + The Divine, Young Avengers, Captain Carter, etc.) is back with a passion project that he’s both illustrating and writing. Continuing DSTLRY’s mission of providing a platform for artists and writers to launch projects that are new and different, this is the first project that McKelvie has worked on as a writer in over a decade. And as a writer he’s created a book that’s going to allow himself to draw one of the things that he’s best at: compelling characters and dynamic action scenes.
Billed by the publisher as “John Wick meets Guillermo del Toro,” One for Sorrow is the story of a masked killer called the Magpie, who is working their way through London’s underworld in the year 1900, and the three strangers who must come together to unmask them and stop their string of murders. The preview pages are a fun blend of horror and action, with lots of heavy inks and dramatic lighting, and the moody noir vibes combined with the turn of the century setting promise an exciting backdrop for the book. It’s definitely going to be one to check out this June.
- Sloane
Ultimates #1
Marvel Comics
By Deniz Camp (writer) and Juan Frigeri (artist)
Alrighty folks it’s happening. We’ve had Ultimate Spider-Man, Black Panther, X-Men, and now the Ultimates are getting a relaunch (and with 100000% less Mark Millar cynical garbage writing). Looks like the initial team is gonna consist of Iron Lad, Cap, Giant Man/Ant-Man, Wasp, Thor, Sif(!) and Doctor Doom(?!). And rather than being a team backed by the powers that be, this version of the Avengers is out to bring down the Maker (aka evil Reed Richards) and his council that’s been ruling the new Ultimate Universe since it’s inception. If you’ve been following Hickman’s relaunch of the universe, this is maybe the second most important Ultimate title to be picking up (second behind Ultimate Spider-Man).
- Nick
Zatanna: Bring Down the House
DC Black label
By Mariko Tamaki (writer) and Javier Rodriguez (artist)
Zatanna is the best stage magician in the worst hotel and casino you’ve never heard of. With her talents she could be headlining at her choice of joints on the Strip but after an instance of magic gone wrong in her past she would rather stick to magic with a lowercase “m”. That is, until a portal tears open her stage and a demon claws its way out dead set on killing her. Zatanna must confront her past and master her powers if she hopes to make it out of this alive.
I’ve been curious about reading a Zatanna solo book for ages and between Paul Dini’s Zatanna being reprinted and this new series, I feel like this is the year of Zatanna. I’m a huge fan of Tamaki’s writing (Detective Comics, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass) and Rodriquez’s (Batman: The Brave and the Bold, The Dreaming: Waking Hours) art in the preview pages for this are absolutely stunning, I cannot get enough of the colors. This being a Black Label book honestly also really helps it in my mind so I can’t wait to get my hands on it at the end of June.
- Elise
Galaxy of Madness
Mad Cave
By Magdalene Visaggo (writer) and Michael Avon Oeming (artist)
Here is my hot take of the month: I think the best genre of Science Fiction is that weird, colorful, anti-capitalist, trippy, and retrofuturist style from the 60s-80s. I’m just so delighted by the thought of colorful spaceships and dumb skintight spacesuits a la Starstruck or Space Quest. Bring back color! Bring back space billboards advertising Robot insurance! Cyberpunk is not enough fun anymore! Sci-Fi brutalism looks cool but there’s too much! Get it outta here!
Anyway this series looks cool.
Blending cosmic horror and classic sci-fi, the series follows a swashbuckling space archaeologist, Vigil Virgo, on the cusp of discovering a universe shattering secret. The writer-artist team have described it as “a bright, fun, and existential retrofuturistic adventure.” It looks colorful, strange, and has all the makings of the vibe I’m looking for!
- Max
Crossover Madness: Blood Hunt Continues
Alrighty folks! Doing my due diligence here and trying my best to keep everyone up to date on the newest solicitations of Marvel's newest giant crossover event (tm). In the interest of completeness, I'm going to re-list some of the books that have already come out first, then follow it up with the new solicits (i.e., new #1s) for June.
So if you're just joining us for Blood Hunt, here are the books that have already been ordered and most of which may have already started or already come out by the time you read this:
- Blood Hunt (5 Issue Mini)
- Dracula: Blood Hunt (3 Issue Mini)
- Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt (3 Issue Mini)
- Union Jack the Ripper: Blood Hunt (3 Issue Mini)
- Blood Hunters (4 Issue Mini)
- Black Panther: Blood Hunt (3 Issue Mini)
- Strange Academy: Blood Hunt (3 Issue Mini)
- Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt (3 Issue Mini)
- Venom #33 (Tie-In)
- Vengeance of the Moon Knight #5 (Tie-In)
- Avengers #14 (Tie-In)
- Doctor Strange #15 (Tie-In)
- Amazing Spider-Man #49 (Tie-In)
Okay, so here's the list for June's solicitations:
- Wolverine: Blood Hunt (4 issue mini)
- X-Men Blood Hunt: Jubilee (one-shot)
- X-Men Blood Hunt: Magik (one-shot)
- Venom #34 (Tie-In)
- Miles Morales: Spider-Man #21 (Tie-In)
- Avengers #15 (Tie-In)
- Fantastic Four #21 (Tie-In)
- Doctor Strange #16 (Tie-In)
- Vengeance of the Moon Knight #6 (Tie-In)
As a reminder, or if this is your first time with these big crossovers - Tie-Ins are typically relatively minor crossovers with the main series, while the one-shots and mini-series are more likely to have content that's extremely relevant to the main plot. Take this into consideration when you decide how much of a crossover completionist you want to be.
One-Shots & Graphic Novels
June's one-shots and graphic novels include the end of the Krakoan Age, some really cute (and probably very gay) books by the folks at Silver Sprocket, and a new Molly Knox Ostertag book! This section's reviews are also brought to you by Max, Nick, Sloane, and Elise. Enjoy!
Loving, Ohio
Dark Horse
(W) Matthew Erman (A) Sam Beck
Okay listen, I’m gonna keep it short and sweet, this right here is everything I want in a gosh dang comic book. A mystery coming of age story surrounding a cult, involving a serial killer and cosmic horror? That’s my whole thing!
MY WHOLE THING!
I love the concept, Sam Beck’s art looks amazing, and it’s set in Ohio! I have no connection or opinion about the state but someone probably does, and that’s exciting for that person. The story follows a group of friends after the mysterious suicide of their friend. As they try to graduate high school, the group is flung into a full-fledged mystery involving a series of murders, the cult their town controls, and the highs and lows of figuring out your place in the world.
I’m HYPE
- Max
X-Men #35
Marvel Comics
By Kieron Gillen, Chris Claremonte, Al Ewing, Gail Simone (writers) and More Artists Than Will Fit on this Byline
Oh man does this one hurt to write about because the Krakoan Age comes to an end with this big oversized issue. An absolutely stellar line-up of writers will close the book on the saga that revitalized the X line and brought mutants out of the Marvel closet (some literally), and there’s at least one writer in the lineup (Gail) who’s gonna help usher in the new status quo for the line. So if you were there at the beginning, or maybe you’re just jumping in to watch it all fall down, let us know you want a copy of this book.
- Nick
Skin Deep
Silver Sprocket
By Flo Woolley
This book combines two of my favorite things: horror comics and being gay. After how perfectly creepy Fruiting Bodies (Silver Sprocket’s last venture into queer horror mini comics) was, I’m doubly excited for this one. Awash in eerie blues and greens that make the book feel almost underwater at times, it follows a dance troupe, and an understudy who suddenly gains the attention of the star. She soon discovers both how intoxicating the spotlight can be, as well as the sacrifices needed to keep it. In the preview pages artist Flo Woolley demonstrates a mastery of horror pacing and a Art Nouveau inspired style that brings an aura of mystery to the whole book.
- Sloane
The Deep Dark
Graphix
By Molly Knox Ostertag (!!!)
The new Molly Knox Ostertag book is finally coming out and I am so excited! Between working a part time job, taking care of her grandmother, and occasionally sneaking makeouts with a girl who has a boyfriend, high schooler Magdalena Herera has had to grow up a little too fast. On top of all that, she also has a painful secret that she keeps hidden in her basement. But when her childhood friend Nessa comes back into town with a secret of her own, she’s forced to question whether or not she’s strong enough to survive without anyone else’s help.
If you don’t know Ostertag’s other work, like The Witch Boy and its sequels or The Girl From the Sea, they’re deeply positive, very queer YA books that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. She originally published part of this book online through her substack, and she used self-publishing as an opportunity to take the queer elements of her writing even further. In the lead up to its release she’s talked about her frustration with the stories she’s been allowed to tell by publishers, and her desire to include in her writing more representation, spotlighting more butch women and feminine men, as well as fat and visibly trans characters. (As someone who’s both butch and visibly trans, it’s definitely hard to find characters who look like me in a lot of media, which certainly won’t be a problem here.) She’s also talked about how this story has been a chance for her to take her writing in a slightly darker and more serious direction than she’s usually able to. I’m so excited for her to get to stretch herself creatively in this book, and I'm doubly excited to sit down to read it once it comes out.
- Sloane
Marvel / DC Crossover Omnibii
DC and Marvel
By soooo many writers and sooo many artists.
Folks, they’re finally doing it. Marvel and DC got together, hashed out some sort of agreement, and are putting out the fabled crossovers of the comic industry titans once again. There are two omnibii - Marvel Vs DC and the Amalgam-verse. The first one, Marvel Vs DC, includes a ton of crossovers between the two companies ranging from 1976 up through the late 90’s. The other covers maybe the last time the companies engaged in a large scale collaboration. If you remember this time fondly, you know that it’s really hard to get entire runs of this stuff, especially in trades (see also that JLA / Avengers book from a couple of years ago).
So please - preorder it and let us know you want one! We’re getting a number of these tomes for the shelf, but it likely won’t be enough to cover demand if folks really want them.
- Nick
Lucky Cap Scouts
Silver Sprocket
By O Stevens
I am a Stuff Person™. I love my tchotchkes. I love blind boxes and plushies and all manner of little guys (fuzzy or otherwise). For that reason, I feel like this book was written for me. Its a colorful fantastical adventure starring Checkers, a Lucky Cap Scout. Lucky Cap Scouts are a series of blind/mystery box figures who all have their own unique features and personalities. When Checkers steps out of the box, alive, in their new home their eyes are opened to all the possibilities of life. “There are point-and-click video games, new food to taste, friendships with other Scouts — and of course the existential dread.”
O. Stevens seems to perfectly understand those of us who collect trinkets and give them their own personalities and inner lives. This book makes me think of a little bit of Fabien Vehlmann’s Beautiful Darkness and Marcel the Shell With Shoes On rolled into one. It gives the vibe of Barbie asking if anyone else has been thinking about death. Cute, colorful, and maybe just a little bit fucked up.
- Elise
And that's it for our June look aheads! Next month's look aheads should be up by early-mid June for July. Thanks for reading, and if you saw something you wanted to add to your pull (or want to start a subscription for the book), use our handy little google form and submit that request! We'll get right on that.
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