The Johnny Bacardi Show

DC, out of the goodness of their corporate hearts, was nice enough to give us their solicits for May- so I figure the least I could do is run 'em down, like a good little comics blogger...



The prominent theme, at least early on in the list, is "Month of May= excellent Cliff Chiang cover art". Above is from BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #65, which is hyped as being "...the shattering conclusion of Ivy's quest!". Sounds painful. Don't want anything shattered, so I won't buy. But bojemoi, that's a nice cover.

Another excellent Chiang image, this time from GOTHAM CENTRAL #31. Hey, look! Cliff draws Josie Mac for the first time in years!

James Jean is on fire, too- his pop-arty cover for GREEN ARROW #50 looks great.

But holy geez, what a wretched awful thing that's going to be stuck on HAWKMAN #40! Reminds me of something you'd see on a Caliber or Top Cow book. Ugh.

THE OMAC PROJECT #2 continues to look interesting to me, even though I'm not a big fan of Jesus Saiz's art.

There's going to be 16 issues of PLASTIC MAN. Wow. Baker must have some dirty pictures of somebody somewhere. I've been so underwhelmed by the last couple of issues that I'm strongly considering dropping it, and I may do it before you've finished reading this.

The Seven Soldiers parade continues with SEVEN SOLDIERS: SHINING KNIGHT #2 and SEVEN SOLDIERS: THE GUARDIAN #2 . Beauty cover on that Shining Knight, eh? My wallet is groaning at the thought of having so many miniseries to keep up with, but so far it looks like it will be worthwhile if I don't go all chapter 7.

Wouldn't mind having that WRATH OF THE SPECTRE TP, since I don't have my original Adventure comics anymore. Those were some wicked fun, especially the first four issues or so before it got a tad formulaic. Also, the Spectre fan in me has a hard-on for THE GOLDEN AGE SPECTRE ARCHIVES VOL. 1 HC, but if I could afford hardcovers I'd be sitting on a stack of Spirit Archives right now. Sigh.

I tried picking up a couple of issues of WONDER WOMAN recently, but just couldn't get into 'em. WW is a character I've always kinda liked, but have rarely liked the way her own title was done, a state which continues to this day. I wonder if Promethea knows that Wondy has snagged her staff?

On to the Wildstorm section.

CITY OF TOMORROW #2, the latest Chaykin joint, looks good. Hope I signed up for #1- I forget!

DESOLATION JONES #1: Warren Ellis. J.H. Williams III. I'll be getting this, even if I have to give plasma.

MATADOR #1 kinda-sorta looks interesting; it's by Devin Grayson, with whose work I've been unimpressed, and Brian Stelfreeze, with whose work I've been somewhat more impressed. After Angeltown, I'm a bit reluctant to stick my toe back in the urban crime thriller comics genre pool.

THE RAZOR'S EDGE: REDBIRD #3: Does no one have any cover scans for this? We were given a small illo for #2, and there's some sort of caption box on this one. Hey, it's still Jason Pearson, and that's cool, but...

SLEEPER SEASON TWO #12 draws the final curtain on one of the best series in recent memory, most likely for good. Can't wait to see how it turns out, though.

TOP TEN: THE FORTY-NINERS HC I'll believe this is coming out when I see it on the rack. I think I might have to order it from DCBS- I miss Top 10 so bad that I'm fiending to read this!

James Jean, who's absolutely on a roll: at right, the cover for FABLES #37.

The first three PREACHER trades are being re-released; if you haven't read this series, do so now. Unless you're easily offended.

And that looks like that! I thought April was a slack month, and there was more to look forward to coming out then than this month! Oh well, there's always the usual suspects like 100 Bullets and The Losers, which didn't move me to comment.

Wish I could say that by May I would have broken off with my comics shop and went exclusively DCBS, but that doesn't look like it's gonna happen anytime soon. C'est la vie.

UPDATE! Mighty Mike Jozic has reminded me of a May solicit that I had overlooked: BATMAN: DARK DETECTIVE #'s 1 & 2, the much-ballyhooed return of Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers to a character they did for a short but brilliant time in the late 70's. Many of the story ideas they initiated have been blended into Batman lore, including Joker fish and the whole Clayface thing. I recall those being somewhat adult in tone, especially compared to the norm in comics at that time. Anyway, I'm considering picking these up, but I'm a bit apprehensive- many times creators have come back to the scene of past glory, and have failed to live up to expectations. We shall see, I guess!