Thomm: So we’re going to run all the peaks and valleys of the Lee express. Strap in, boys and girls.
story Robert Kirkman and Nick Spencer
art / cover Shawn Martinbrough
32 Pages / FC/ $2.99
Conrad Paulson lives a secret double life as master thief Redmond. There is nothing he can’t steal, nothing he can’t have... except for the life he left behind. Now, with a grown son he hardly knows, and an ex-wife he never stopped loving, Conrad must try to piece together what’s left of his life, before the FBI finally catch up to him... but it appears they are the least of his worries.
Lee: This has all the makings of being a really, really good book. Kirkman and Spencer are both top notch idea men. Aannnnddd, they also tend to be kinda late on delivery of product. Spencer much more than Kirkman. I’m interested enough to try the first couple of issues though.
Thomm: Definitely of interest for me. Most things Kirkman I’m willing to give a try, and he has been much better on deadlines in recent years. At least he’s trying. Spencer I can’t speak to. Love the premise. If it has panache, it’s a winner.
And that’s the end of normal. Image has a bunch of really weird books this month which we talk about below the juimp.
story Jean-Paul Bonjour and Jeff Roenning
art / cover Robert Love, Dana Shukartsi and Diego Simone
32 Pages / FC / $2.99
It's 1984, and Judith is your typical 17 year old. She chain smokes, cuts class, sells her tampons to perverts, and she just might be the last sane woman left on the planet. When a third-rate cosmetics company creates a pheromone that turns women into crazed man-eaters, the world dives into chaos. Judith must break her little brother out of juvie, all the while dodging rabid women and the men who hunt them. Already a proven survivor, she picks up some interesting strays along the way and kicks some serious zombie ass! Judith is Alpha Girl!
Lee: You know what caught my eye here… it was this line “It's 1984, and Judith… sells her tampons to perverts.” Seriosuly??? I’ve never know anyone… ANYONE.. man or woman who sold their tampons! Beyond being generally disgusted I can’t tell if this is anything all that new so I leave it to Thomm to decide if we should make the investment or not.
Thomm: If you’re Prince Charles, sure. Beyond that, it strikes me as excess for the sake of excess, rather than in furtherance of a coherent story. It’s all over the place.
story Angelo Tirotto
art / cover Richard Jordan variant cover Ian Churchill
32 pages / FC / $2.99
“Home Again” Dee’s life is in turmoil when her parents are killed in a freak tornado. Returning to Kansas for the funeral after five years in LA, Dee discovers Emeraldsville is the same unexciting place it was when she left - until the bizarre unexplained murders begin. With an unknown killer closing in, the events of one night in 1959 begin to unravel as a portal to a world of horror opens, a portal paved with yellow bricks...
Lee: It must be ridiculous cover month from Image. So, for all the cutesy words in the hype this is a Wizard of Oz cross over with slasher-horror movie. This was already done several times with Alice and Wonderland so this twist was only a matter of time. I’m just not sure that I care. And, I have finally gotten old because the cover just seems stupid and pointless to me. Here’s a real shock, I don’t think the cover has anything to do with the interior of the book.
Thomm: Oh, I’m sure there will be some in-your-face boobs in the interior of the book, too. Strangely, I think this has something. Now, I think it’s hard to beat the Wizard of Oz take that Chris Roberson did in Cinderella or that Willingham is doing in Fables, but this is Wizard of Oz meets Truman Capote. Now that’s got some potential.
story Kurtis J. Wiebe
art and cover Tyler Jenkins
32 Pages / FC / $3.50
“The Great Escape,” Part One. The city of Calais is the first city in France to fall to the Germans in the spring of 1940. A mysterious American boy named Peter rallies a handful of plucky French orphans and they must work together to survive Europe’s darkest hour. From the writer of the critically acclaimed Green Wake and The Intrepids comes a new ongoing series: Peter Panzerfaust, a high energy action story that blends Red Dawn with Peter Pan.
Lee: Now this sounds really interesting! I love the pitch line “Peter Pan meets Red Dawn.” Perfect.
Thomm: Oh, very interesting. Red Dawn is one of my all-time favorite bad movies. I wonder if Tinkerbell will be Lea Thompson?
story Jimmy Palmiotti
art Artiz Eiguren cover Sas Christian
64 Pages / FC / $12.99
In the tradition of David Lynch and Stephen King comes the story of a young woman dealing with the insanity of the world around her. Meet Ginger, a twenty-something office girl that lives her life one boring day at a time until on her wedding night, her new husband tries to kill her...and it goes horribly wrong. This special hardcover graphic novel is a story of revenge, lust, violence and insanity brought to you by Jimmy Palmiotti (Jonah Hex, Painkiller Jane) and featuring the art of Artiz Eiguren, as well as a cover by award winning illustrator Sas Christian, and also featuring pin-ups by Amanda Conner and more!
Lee: Seriously, that’s the cover? Really? Depressing that a story which might actually be good has that incredibly stupid cover.
Thomm: Subtle. Who wrote the teaser, too? Lynch and King don’t overlap much, so why try to portray them as a unified tradition? This seems much more Lynch, or Kafka, than King. And on a grammatical note, it should read “office girl who lives her life”.
story / art / cover Brandon Graham
424 Pages / BW / $19.99
At Last! The long-awaited collection of the complete King City series is here, full of full on comic book games, puzzles and wordplay! Joe is a catmaster, trained to use his cat as any tool or weapon. His best friend Pete falls in love with an alien he's forced to sell into green slavery, while his ex Anna watches her Xombie War veteran boyfriend turn into the drug he's addicted to. King City, an underbelly of a town Run by spy gangs and dark dark magic with mystery down every alleyway. Collects King City #1-12
Lee: And we’re gonna end on a high note. This book/series/story has been so incredibly late and delayed and everything else in its publishing schedule that it’s ridiculous. But, I have several issues of the self published version… and several issues of the Image version… and now I am going to get this. Graham’s art is just fantastic and the story is over the top science fiction silliness. It’s really good and after years and years I might finally get to finish it.
Thomm: A drug addiction that turns the user into the drug? Saves on production costs, I guess. You know, I wouldn’t get any of what’s in that blurb from the cover. Talk about not selling the content.
Lee: Just when I think that Image might grow beyond it’s TandA roots they have a month of covers like these. It’s sad they can’t do better. But then they publish King City and all is forgiven. Well, maybe not forgiven but at least it helps me turn a blind eye.
Thomm: To be fair, the vast majority of the solicit covers for the month aren’t T&A. Even here, the Alpha Girl and Queen Crab covers aren’t either. Mostly it’s the usual suspects, like Witchblade.
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