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THE BLOG AT THE CROSSROADS
Article: PG Previews For April 2012
Posted: February 26, 2012
I do this, so you don’t have to. My trawling through all the massive amount of upcoming comics product can be a daunting and sometimes disappointing task. Every month brings more ‘properties’, more old but recognisable characters, dusted off in another attempt to sell us more of what we bought before, more of the same.
So for example in April alone, The Shadow, Popeye, Airboy, and Ming the Merciless, for goodness sake, are among the supposedly thrilling franchises to be re-licensed to publishers. Now these are being crafted by appropriate professionals, like writers Garth Ennis and Roger Langridge, but aside from their die-hard collectors’ fan-base, they are really of only passing interest to anyone who believes comics can be an innovative, creator-owned, creator-driven, expansive medium, rather than some subsidiary offshoot in cross-platform marketing of yet another ‘brand’ that must be sold to us yet again. Everything seems to come back again eventually, as I’ve noticed the once-dead Human Torch has ‘flamed on’ again at Marvel, while next month brings the long-unawaited resuscitation of the largely forgotten and forgettable Valiant superheroes. And the announced prequels to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ stand-alone work of genius are sadly probably not the last straw.
As for what pass for ‘new’ and ‘original’ offerings, many smack of savvy, button-pushing predictability with a steely stare fixed on that movie and game development deal. Luckily, I managed to find that small, special seam of individuality, creativity, quality and quirkiness, hand-picked here for you and based on publishers’ advance listings (actual release dates may vary and my further commentaries will follow). And what a month this is, including major new titles to look forward to by Alison Bechdel, Guy Delisle, Simone Lia, Peter Bagge and Darryl Cunningham, amongst others. Happy reading ahead! Read this Article here…
Read The Blog At The Crossroads here.
