Image Preview Review for February

Jim: Now that Image has gone through their reorganization and gotten most of their publish schedule in line we are seeing a fair number on new series coming out this month. The new material is always the most fun to look at in these reviews, usually.
Lee: After Indies, Image is one of my favorite previews because there is so much new and different. I’m glad the reorg is done because it made looking at previews a mess.

SOUL KISS #1 (of 5) - Story STEVEN T. SEAGLE art & cover MARCO CINELLO MAN OF ACTION STUDIOS brings acclaimed Vertigo creator and multiple Eisner nominee STEVEN T. SEAGLE (American Virgin, it's a bird..., Sandman Mystery Theater) to Image Comics for the all-new, five-issue series, SOUL KISS - the story of a woman with vengeance on her mind and damnation on her lips. Animator Marco Cinello (The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, Curious George) makes his comics debut providing lush, full-color artwork.
A deal with the Devil gone bad leads production assistant Lili Bloom to strike a second deal with the Devil gone worse: To save her boyfriend, Lili must deliver ten innocent souls to Hell by sealing their fates...with a kiss.FEBRUARY 11 - 32 PAGES - FC - $3.50 RETAILER WARNING: MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES

Jim: So this series has potential and certainly a unique premise. Does the “not suitable for all ages” mean we get sex scenes in this comic Lee?
Lee: I’ve always liked Seagle so I’ll give this a chance. I think “not suitable for all ages” means they get to say “firetruck” a lot. That’s what I say around the kids!

BAD DOG #1 story JOE KELLY art & cover DIEGO GRECO The acclaimed writer of Deadpool returns to his dark comedy, anti-hero roots with BAD DOG, channeling a lifetime of bad behavior into two misfit bounty hunters incapable of catching a break, let alone a criminal. Lou is a werewolf who despises people so much that he refuses to shift back into human form. Wendell is a vertically-challenged, gutter-mouthed ex-preacher with a hair-trigger temper. Two glorious bastards drinking their way across the American Nightmare, hunting down the dregs of humanity...to find themselves. (That is, if by "find themselves," you mean drink, swear and generally make a mess of things.)
Brought to you by beer-goggle visionary bon vivants JOE KELLY (Deadpool...yes, we're saying it again!) and DIEGO GRECO.FEBRUARY 4 - 40 PAGES - FC - $3.99 RETAILER WARNING: MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES

Jim: Joe Kelly has been on a roll with me lately as both I Kill Giants and Four Eyes has been great mini-series. I know this is a different type of story, but I’m more willing then before to try a Joe Kelley book and I like the premise.
Lee: I can’t believe out of all the things Joe Kelly has written this starts off with the oldest. Sheesh. But, he does appear to be on quite the tear lately so it’s worth checking out.

THE GREAT UNKNOWN #1 Story DUNCAN ROULEAU art & cover DUNCAN ROULEAU A MIND-THROBBING WHODUNNIT!Everything Zach Feld imagines - impossibly - shows up somewhere else. It's as if someone is reading his mind and selling his incredible thoughts to the highest bidder.
His friends and family think Zach is a freeloader with delusions of grandeur - making up one weird paranoiac story after another to defend his directionless life. They might be right. But when Zach begins to dig deeper into the mystery, he discovers that they might be very, very wrong. Has someone been sneaking around inside Zach's mind?
Visionary storyteller DUNCAN ROULEAU (Metal Men, The Nightmarist, X-Factor) creates this five-issue series about one man's quest to find the people responsible for raiding his thoughts and relegating him to a life of being the great unknown.FEBRUARY 18 - 32 PAGES - FC - $3.50RETAILER WARNING: MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES

Jim: So apparently nothing this month is suitable for the kids so far. I’m a little hesitant in signing up for this book as I loved Duncan’s art in Metal Men, but the story was a little convoluted and was not reading well as a single issue, but I will give issue #1 a whirl.
Lee: I think that Image just puts the NOT SUITABLE tag on everything. I’ve always had a soft spot for Rouleau’s art but I’m not completely sold on him as a writer. I’ll wait to see what the reviews say.

CODEFLESH: THE DEFINITIVE EDITION HC story JOE CASEY art & cover CHARLIE ADLARD BACK AT IMAGE IN AN ALL-NEW FULL COLOR COLLECTION! A cult hit is back, the way it was always meant to be seen, from co-creators JOE CASEY (GODLAND) and CHARLIE ADLARD (THE WALKING DEAD). Cameron Daltrey is an L.A. bail bondsman. His specialty is criminals of the superhuman persuasion, the type who rarely make their court dates. And so Cameron leads an interesting double life: bail bondsman by day, masked bounty hunter by night. Packed with extra features, INCLUDING AN ALL-NEW CODEFLESH STORY BY CASEY & ADLARD - THE FIRST IN SEVEN YEARS!FEBRUARY 25 - 128 PAGES - FC - $34.99 RETAILER WARNING: MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AGE

Jim: Never heard of this book and I’m certainly not ponying up $35 bucks to see if it is any good.
Lee: THIS BOOK IS EXCELLENT! It was done in early 00’s and got great reviews. When I saw this I went back and re-read the original issues and it’s still great. This is absolutely fantastic stuff and really, really worth your time and money.

AMBER ATOMS #1 story, art & cover KELLY YATES colors MICHAEL E. WIGGAM "CHAPTER ONE"Blast-off with the newest sci-fi adventure heroine Amber Atoms! Follow the ongoing adventures of this modern day "Flash Gordon" as Amber dreams of leaving her mundane life, but not exactly how she imagined. Mercenaries and aliens suddenly invade Amber's world as she learns that her family history could decide the fate of the galaxy.FEBRUARY 18 - 32 PAGES - FC - $3.50

Jim: The premise sounds fun and I’m always curious to try out new creators, but I think this book is a long shot to be strong enough to be an unlimited series.
Lee: Maybe it’s you but to me there’s nothing here to distinguish it from anything else in the market place. Both art and story sound pretty generic.

JERSEY GODS #1 story GLEN BRUNSWICK art DAN McDAID cover MIKE ALLRED variant cover DAN McDAID
You're a high maintenance Jersey girl that lives close enough to New York to want the cosmopolitan lifestyle, but you're not brave enough to leave your over protective parents. The solid guys that stayed behind fail to hold your interest very long so you wind up looking for a heart of gold where there is none. What's a girl to do? If you're Zoe, you marry the first God of war that crash lands in town. Then you move into a house just three houses down from your parents. But what happens when even a God can't exactly measure up to your expectations?
JERSEY GODS is a superhero book in which the hero, plagued by household chores, his wife's crazy agenda, and meddlesome in laws, has no time left to save the galaxy.FEBRUARY 4 - 32 PAGES - FC - $3.50

Jim: Fun premise, but I can’t see my interest lasting much further then four issues.
Lee: Starting out with that poor attitude, this series doesn’t stand a chance with you. I think it sounds good for at least a year.

TED McKEEVER LIBRARY, BOOK 3: METROPOL HC
story art & cover TED McKEEVER
METROPōL is an epic story of the fight between angels and demons, but set in a modern industrial landscape. An apocalyptic work in which non-entity Jasper Notochord becomes involved in an unbelievable battle between the forces of good and evil!
This volume features all 12 issues of METROPOL, and 3 issues of METROPOL A.D. plus extras! The must-have definitive collection!
FEBUARY 25 - 424 PAGES - BW - $39.99

Lee: First, this is a great series. If you’ve never read Metropol, then you should. It’s a classic and well, well worth your time. It was published by Epic, Marvel’s version of Vertigo. That said, WTF with the size???? This is a really nice HC that’s manga sized. Or at least Book 1 of the Ted McKeever library was. Who thought that was a good decision???? THEY’RE ALL IDIOTS!!! I WANT &%*% FULL SIZE REPRINTS!!! I’ll probably still get it but I’m not as happy with it as I would have been.
Jim: Certain material deserves a certain size and format. Since Lee is familiar with the material I will trust his judgement.

DISPLACED PERSONS OGN (RES)
story DEREK McCULLOCH
art & cover RANTZ A. HOSELEY
FROM THE WRITER OF THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED STAGGER LEE - NOMINATED FOR BOTH EISNER AND EAGLE AWARDS AND WINNER OF FOUR GLYPH AWARDS, INCLUDING BEST WRITER AND STORY OF THE YEAR!
In 1939, a detective in Dashell Hammett's San Francisco investigates the disappearance of an heiress while struggling to hold his family together. In 1969, twin brothers find themselves on opposite sides of the law as the Summer of Love gives way to the death of the Sixties. In 1999, a marriage explodes in violence under the strain of unsatisfied greed as the dot-com bubble reaches the bursting point.
Displaced Persons tells the story of a uniquely twisted and tragic family history spanning the most turbulent hundred years in the history of mankind: the twentieth century saw 99 wars, 16 famines, 19 pandemics, 14 genocides and one family lost hopelessly in time.
FEBRUARY 4 - 168 PAGES - FC - $19.99

Lee: This is a resolicit so I don’t know if we picked it before. But, if we did it still sounds good. If we didn’t… it still sounds good. Visit Rantz here for some previews
Jim: I beleive we did pick this one before and this certainly sounds promising.


INCREDIBLE JOURNEY #1 (of 3) story TOM ARGUELLO & JIM VALENTINO art & cover JIM VALENTINO & JIMMIE ROBINSON
All her life Journey Dominguez dreamed of being a super-hero, but when she finds an ancient amulet that steals the hero's powers and may have caused their deaths, Journey finds herself on the run from the very heroes she admired...and the target of an ancient evil awakened!
TAG: Winner of the WHO WANTS TO CREATE A SUPER-HEROINE CONTEST drawn by Jim Valentino and inked by Jimmie Robinson!FEBUARY 4 - 32 PAGES - FC - $3.50

Jim: This book is a pass and I’m tired of Shadowline portion of Image doing these three issue mini-series that are not even complete stories. Many of these mini-series hasve read like an ongoing that just stops after issue #3.
Lee: What luck, I’ve never gotten any of the Shadowline stuff to begin with. Saved myself some money it appears.

The Darkness Novel 2 (W) Kerri Hawkins
In this second installment of The Darkness novel series by author Kerri Hawkins (Blood Legacy), Jackie Estacado struggles to control his branch of the triumvirate powers of the universe while still operating as a mafia hitman. Caught between his earthly enemies and his supernatural foes, Jackie’s greatest battle might be with the black force residing within him.
Jackie loves little beyond himself, but when his childhood friend Jenny is threatened, his hard-edged persona is tested. He begins to understand that The Darkness has its own agenda, and although the dark power might help him, it might also consume him…
B/W 160 pages $6.99 novel

Jim: Thank god they told the novel is in black and white, because I was expecting four color typing.
Lee: Maybe it’s written in red so color blind people can’t see the words??? Ever think of that???

Jim: So a slew of new offering from Image, which is in the business of constantly offering up new series to supplement the line as does each company. Image is just structured so that we got a very diverse offering.
Lee: Yeah, what Jim said. …. Apparently both Jim and I both had trouble with insightful closings this month. Or maybe just me.