Dark Horse
Hellboy returns in an all-new 2-issue mini-series, The Island, from creator Mike Mignola.
Ian Edginton & D'Israeli have a new mini-serires, Scarlet Traces: The Great Game. The solicit copy proclaims that it "picks up where the critically acclaimed hardcover left off," but I don't remember anything about a hardcover.Grendel: Red, White & Black is finally collected into a trade.
Concrete, vol. 1: Depths starts a series of comprehensive reprints of early Concrete material.
DC Comics
I haven't read Legends of the Dark Knight in ages, but issue #192 starts a five-part Mr. Freeze origin written by J. H. Williams & D. Cartis Johnson and drawn by Seth Fisher. You can relive the story that featured the beating and torture--including with a drill--of a sixteen-year-old girl in Batman: War Games Act Two. Hey, it was all code-approved, so it must be good, wholesome comics reading, right? Pass on this. Please.
Kano takes over as regular artist (with Stefano Gaudiano switching over to inks) with Gotham Central #32.
Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale's Catwoman: When in Rome comes to a belated conclusion.
Will Pfeifer & Pete Woods come on board as the creative team on Catwoman with issue #44.The Godawful Superman: Godfall story gets a trade collection.
Batzarro. Heh.
Matt Wagner's Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity gets a trade collection.
DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy is written by Phil Jimenez, penciled by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez and inked by Geroge Perez. I am so there.
There's also a trade paperback, New Teen Titans: Who Is Donna Troy?, that includes two of Wolfan & Perez's best New Teen Titans stories ever, "Who is Donna Troy?" from issue #38 (actually, this is one of the best Robin/Nightwing stories ever), and the wedding issue (#50).
JLA Classified has two issues this month, concluding the "I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League" story. All of you people complaining about the events of DC Countdown to Infinite Crisis are picking up this alternate take on the heroes, right?The much ignored Justice League Elite maxi-series comes to an end, and shrugs are heard for miles around.
Darwyn Cooke tales over Solo for issue #5.
Son of Vulcan #1. Because revamps of old third-string characters by mid-list creators have been doing so well for DC lately...
DC finally gets around to exploiting its large backlog of WB animation properties with digest-sized collections of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.After a false start, Kurt Busiek's Astro City: The Dark Age looks to be finally coming out.
Remember when J. Scott Campbell as a hot young artist whose name could sell oodles of comcis? Then he disappeared to, oh, I dunno, play videogames or something. Now he's back with the misspelled Wildsiderz, but will anyone even rememebr who he is anymore?
Alan Moore & Ian Gibson's wonderful The Ballad of Halo Jones gets a collection. Speaking of Alan Moore, the old British comics revamp Albion comes out, though Alan is only plotting.
Mike Carey & Glenn Fabry are adapting Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere to comics. Read the book instead. Trust me. (It'll be cheaper too...)
We3 gets collected into a trade. Buy this. It's the most visually interesting comic of the millennium.
Hmmm, let's see. Krypto the Superdog is a new cartoon series aimed at the 5-7-year-old set. There's no inexpensive Krypto comic to be found for the kiddies to buy, but there is a $150 Krypto & Friends Animated Series Maquette Set from DC Direct. See anything wrong with this picture?
Image
I miss Jimmie Robinson's Cyberzone and Amanda & Gunn, but I'll content myself with his doing art on Avigon: Gods and Demons.
Joe Casey & Tom Scioli go all Kirby on us with Gødland #1.Strange Girl, set in a demon-infested post-Rapture world, looks like it coul dbe interesting.
Age of Bronze returns with issue #20, but I'm going to trades-only with this one.
Marvel
House of M: it only sounds like the title for a bad 'erotica' novel. But the real big debut from Marvel this month is Sean McKeever & Mike Norton's Gravity, which I'm sure will be a wonderful antidote.
Last Hero Standing is one of those weekly minis from Marvel that the retailers love so much.
The unruly titled X-Men: Kitty Pryde - Shadow & Flame is yet another X-mMen mini, but it has art by Paul Smith. Must. Resist. Buying. Floppies. Wait. For. Trade...Y'know, I'm not even going to bother counting how much Fantastic Four stuff is coming out in June; I don't have that many fingers and toes! Boy, Marvel better hope that this is more Spider-Man than Elektra.
Okay, who was it that asked for a new New Warriors mini? What? You, over there? Get out!
Jae Lee draws Incredible Hulk #82. Yay!Hey, did you realize that Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects is based on a sure-to-be crappy video game? I wonder why Marvel aren't toting that in their copy?
Joss Whedon & John Cassaday's first year of Astonishign X-Men comes to an end. Don't stay away too long guys!
Hey look: a new issue of Kabuki!
JMS & Mike Deodato take an Amazing Spider-Break and trip on over to the Icon imprint with Dream Police. Its Sandman meets Dragnet high concept is good for a one-shot apparently.This month sees an extra-length Powers #50; or rather it would be #50 if they hadn't started renumbering when they switched over to Marvel/Icon. So instead you get a big celebration for issue #12.
Other Marvel titles possibly worth your while include Ultimate Spider-Man #78, Mary Jane: Homecoming #4, G.L.A. #3, Machine Teen #2, New Thunderbolts #9, Spellbinders #4, Power Pack #4, Runaways #5, Supreme Power #17, and The Punisher #22.
Trades of interest include Ultimate Fantastic Four, vol. 3, Fantastic Four Visionaries: George Perez, vol. 1, a digest of Dan Slott & Ty Templeton's Spider-man/Human Torch, and Loeb & Sale's Hulk: Gray. There's also finally a trade collection of Neil Gaiman's 1602.
X-Men/Fantastic Four & X-Men: Phoenix - Endsong are inexplicably worthy of hardcover collections.
That's it for Part 1. Part 2 will appear later this week.
