As everyone knows zombies are cool but, after Marvel Zombies, they're also hot. There are several zombie titles due to be unearthed soon.
War of the Undead by Bryan Johnson and Walt Flanagan will be a three issue series from IDW. From the title it sounds like it may be similarly themed to the film Underworld but with zombies in place of werewolves but that's pure speculation on my part. Anticipation factor: 6
Zombies: Eclipse of the Undead should be out in November again from IDW. El Torres is the writer and he's paired with artist Yair Herrera . Anticipation factor: 6
Zombies vs. Robots could be fun or it could be nuts. Or both. The third of IDW's zombie titles this one is due in October from Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood. Anticipation factor: 6
Zombie is Marvel's attempt to jump on the bandwagon it created. There's no relation between this and Marvel Zombies (although a sequel to that series is promised) with this being more of a traditional zombie tale. Coming from the MAX imprint this should be a pretty violent tale from Mike Raicht and Kyle Hotz.The first issue is on the racks now. Anticipation factor: 7
Zombee is a new Image title that sounds like zombies vs. Samurai and is set in feudal Japan. It's a 96-page black and white one-shot by Miles Gunter and Victor Santos and is out in October. Anticipation factor: 8
Drain, with a female ninja vampire as the lead character, comes from Image by way of C.B. Cebulski and Sana Takeda in November. Anticipation factor: 7
As a long-time Edgar Rice Burroughs fan I'm eagerly awaiting IDW's A Princess of Mars from the creative team of Dan Taylor and Ted McKeever. McKeever is certainly a leftfield choice for the art but it will definitely have a unique look. Hopefully this will get enough readers to warrant more adaptations of the Mars series of novels. Anticipation factor: 7
Vangard Productions are releasing a couple of calendars for 2007 that will get older (veteran?) comic fans (like me!) excited, one from comic titan Steranko (he used to have Jim in front of it but like Madonna he's now so famous he now only needs one name) and the other from the equally awesome Neil Adams. One for work and one for home perhaps?
This Month's Reading
The All New Atom 2 & 3
John Byrne's art looks the best it has for years, perhaps because he's concentrating on that and leaving the story to someone else. Gail Simone is that someone else and does a fair job, creating a superhero tale with 50's SF undertones that go beyond the obvious (The Incredible Shrinking Man) to encompass an alien invasion plot as well. I'm not sure the quotes from famous scientists every couple of pages works though. The series also features some lovely painted covers by Ariel Olivetti.
Article comments
1 - moebiusgraphics.com
RE: Frank Miller's BATMAN VERSUS AL-QAEDA
After finishing 120 pages prior to the premiere of SIN CITY in the spring of 2005, Miller's only completed about ten pages of the book in the past year. And with other, more lucrative movie work ahead of him outside of comics (300, SIN CITY 2, THE SPIRIT), plus STILL not having yet finished the abortion that is ALL-STAR BATMAN, don't count on seeing this comic any time soon.
2 - Ian Woolstencroft
I’m not even convinced it will get released even if he does finish it. Have DC confirmed they will publish it? As far as I’m aware there hasn’t been an official announcement from them.
I take it you’re not a fan of All Star Batman? From a story point of view I think it’s one of the worst things Miller’s done. Still at least Jim Lee’s art looks great. I hadn’t heard the news about The Spirit film so thanks for that. While I’m certainly excited about it, once again I’m not convinced it will happen. Has there been any confirmation from other sources than Miller? He’s certainly the perfect choice though so I’ll keep my figures crossed.
3 - yenrag
"Ron Garneys artwork is not up to the task." You're wrong.Instead of making blanket sttements that hurt peoples careers, list reasons that can help them. Its called a critique. Otherwise your review is worthless.
Best,
Ron Garney
4 - yenrag
"Ron Garneys art isnt up to the standard" Your wrong Ian. It most certainly is. Instead of making blanket statements about someones work that potentially can damage a career, try making constructive comments with reasons attached. Its called a critique, otherwise your review is worthless.
Best,
Ron Garney
5 - Ian Woolstencroft
Yenrag I see you needed two attempts to get your point across.
Firstly, telling me I’m wrong just because you don’t agree with me is far more a blanket statement than the one I made. In my opinion, Garney’s art isn’t up to the standard of the other artists I mentioned, that’s not to say it’s bad, just workmanlike. Not everyone can be a superstar artist whose name on a book will help to sell it. For every Jim Lee there are ten Ron Garney’s but every army needs soldiers as well as generals. My point was that in recent years Amazing Spider-Man readers have been spoilt by Marvel, with some of there top talent working on the book.
If only I had as much power as you seem to credit me with! The first of my regular monthly columns and I’m already damaging someone’s career. And if you were indeed Ron Garney (instead of his number one fanboy) I think your ego is big enough to take my criticism, after all I’m wrong and you are as good as John Romita Jr. and Mike Deodato Jr, at least according to your comment.
6 - Garth
Ian, I saw your comments about Edgar Rice Burroughs and I'm betting like you that anticipation will be high for a Mars series.
I know this at least anectdotely because I'm seeing a lot of activity on an older Edgar Rice Burroughs book at the auction site. A lot of people appear to have a lot of pint-up emotions about getting their hands on his materials.