Ssalefish GSO First Look #165 for 7.1.20
A year ago we would have considered next week’s release slate anemic, but it feels pretty normal at this point with DC taking the week off to officially switch to their new distribution partners and Marvel only putting out trades, so here’s Robert Kirkman to the rescue!
Get ready for the debut of his new series with Chris Samnee, Fire Power, in both a prequel 160-page graphic novel of all-new content that will not be duplicated in the issues for just $9.99 AND what would have been their Free Comic Book Day issue, a 32-page single issue that jumps the series to the modern day, still FREE!
I can’t say enough great things about this book or Chris and Laura Samnee. I got to know them pretty well when Chris’s star was on the rise around 2010 (he drew me into Siege Embedded #3 and did a portrait of me & Carly for our wedding), and I can honestly say that there isn’t a nicer or harder working couple in comics. At a time when late-shipping books were more and more the norm, Chris was getting two monthly books out on time, every time, with Laura assisting on scanning and filling blacks, a Kirby-esque feat! As far his craft, I’ve always said that in the way people say the sculptors are freeing the form of their art from the stone, that’s what Chris does with the blank page.
When it comes to the content, it’s coming along at the perfect time with Avatar the Last Airbender returning to Netflix, cause it’s like that mixed with Iron Fist! I think the target that Robert Kirkman missed with Super Dinosaur years ago was that he wanted it to be all-ages, but the tone was really more just for kids, but with Fire Power he’s hit that allusive nail for every audience right on the head.
Then there’s the completely surprising return of The Walking Dead with Charlie Adlard in Negan Lives, a never-before-seen story dropping when the industry needs it most! I mentioned the silver and gold foil variants last week, which are respectively limited to two and one copy for each store, which makes them extremely hot commodities, but once we have our copies in hand and verified their impeccable condition with our owns eyes, we’ll give everyone an update on pricing.
This week’s cover is the last of my prepared content, so I’d better get back into the “studio”! I originally did a cover of this one as part of my submission packet for the Residential College at Mary Foust on UNCG’s campus, so they’d know they were in for an hour or two of punk rock guitar if they admitted me to the dorm.
All-America Comix #1 - Joe Casey created Miss America Chavez for Marvel in the Vengeance mini series in 2011, and now he’s taking the concept to Image with America VASQUEZ, maybe paving his original vision for the character with Descender/ Ascender artist Dustin Nguyen!
Backtrack #4
Billionaire Island #2
Boys Dear Becky #2
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #15
Child Star TP - Box Brown has been making pop culture a must-read in comic form with Andre the Giant: Life & Legend, Tetris: Games People Play, Is This Guy For Real: The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman, and Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America, and now he’s back with a historically fictional at the rise and fall of promising ingenues from the ‘80s!
Dark Red #10
Devil’s Highway #1 - Ben Percy has been killing it on X-Force and Wolverine during the Dawn of X, and now he’s taking that edge to AWA, who have been turning heads as well with Resistance, Hotell, Zero Year, and more!
Dragonball Super TP vol. 9
Excalibur TP vol. 1
Fire Power #1 - see above!
Fire Power TP vol. 0 - see above!
Ghostbusters Year One #4 - final issue!
Goddamned Virgin Brides #1 - the first series had already been collected by the time we opened in 2017, but this is a not-for-the-faint-of-heart look at Biblical lore from superstar writer Jason Aaron and his Scalped co-creator R.M. Guera!
Goon #11
Kidz #4
Killing Red Sonja #2
Marked #6
My Hero Academia TP vol. 24
Nailbiter Returns #2
Negan Lives #1 - see above!
Nightmare Before Christmas Zero’s Journey #0 - final issue!
Olympia #5 - final issue!
One the Stump #3
Plot #5
Pokemon Adventures Collector’s Edition TP vol. 2
Pretty Violent #7
Protector #4
Psychodrama Illustrated #2
Raiders TP - looking to scratch that Adventure Zone/ Rat Queens/ Die itch with artwork that reminds me of Andrew MacLean!
Reaver #9
Red Sonja #16
Ronin Island #12
Star Trek Year Five #12
Storyteller Ghosts #3
TMNT Urban Legends #24
Vampirella #10
Vengeance of Vampirella #8
What If Classic TP vol. 4
Wild Thing or My Life as a Wolf TP