This week I guess I am switching things up a bit. I’m
gonna talk about a couple of titles coming out and they are kinda getting my
ire up a bit! It touches on two things I see a lot of in comics these days. The
“taking a classic and adding a modern twist” to a story and the dreaded multi
title crossover of a storyline.
Dark Horse will get a lot of press and praise for “THE
ONCE AND FUTURE QUEEN” which gives us a 19 years young chess champion who pulls
Excalibur from the stone and is transported to the world of magic, King Arthur,
Merlin, love and I am sure some dark knights in there somewhere!! They take the
old and give it a new modern twist because, well, it’s easier than coming up
with something original!!!! However, the creative team of Adam Knave and D.J.
Kirkbride, who gave us Amelia Cole and her continuing adventures, along with
the impressive art of Nick Brokenshire should give us a new twist on something
old with a bit of class and respect. Still, I think I will pass.
One thing I am not a fan of is storylines spreading
across titles that I don’t normally read. That’s exactly whats happening with
DC’S “SUPERMAN” #18 as they begin the
“Superman Reborn” storyline that’s kicking off with this issue and the next and
will crossover with ACTION COMICS #975 AND #976. The artwork will be done by
Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray and I am a big fan of their work on Superman. As
for the story, that launched some 18 issues ago!!! Back in “DC UNIVERSE:
REBIRTH” #1 Mr. Oz told this Superman that he and his family were not what they
appeared to be and neither was the fallen Superman. Now with this story we find
the truth behind Mr. Oz’s cryptic words.
However
here is the kicker and it’s something I am pretty sure is gonna tick me off.
The covers and the VARIANT covers will interconnect to form one single vertical
image. Now this is a nice little gimmick but it’s designed purely to get yer
bucks, especially if they charge a higher price for those variants. Now, to be
fair, I have no idea as of yet if that is going to be done. I would think not
as I don’t get that sense of need from DC as I do with Marvel. The variant work
will be done by Gary Frank who I consider one of the premier artists in DC’s
stable of talent. However, I recently stopped ACTION COMICS subscription so it
looks like I will be grudgingly restarting it.
Basically I see this as an exercise in laziness and gimmickry.
The comic industry suffers greatly from a lack of original thought in its main
powerhouse publishers, DC and especially Marvel. And taking a story as
legendary and fabled as King Arthur and Excalibur only to “create” a story
based on it is nothing more than bait-and-switch, changing the names and the
times. It is not original and it is not creative. It’s cheap and insulting.
Anyway, there are some good titles coming out this week.
Click on the Previews link below and check them out.
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