Welcome to Catch it at the Comic Shop, where the Panel Patter team looks at what's coming out at your favorite store or digital device this week. Each one of us that participates picks up to five items due out this week, with a little bit about why we like them. (NOTE: We use solicitation material for this, so if we miss creators, please talk to your publisher!) Sometimes we might only have a few items to share, other weeks, keeping it to five will make for hard choices. Here's what the team wanted to highlight this week...
James' Picks:
Creepshow #1 by Chris Burnham, Paul Dini, Stephen Langford, and John McCrea, published by Image Comics
It's not even October, but you don't have to wait to get your hands on what looks lik a fun, scary horror comics anthology. Shudder has brought back Creepshow as a TV show (originally a 1982 movie directed by George Romero and written by Stephen King) which I was almost always too scared to watch as a kid. I'm not much for a horror TV show or movie, but I love a good horror comic - particularly if it is more existential terror, less gore. I'm excited to check out this Creepshow comic anthology. Chris Burnham is involved as an artist (and maybe writer? I'm not sure) and I ca tell you that he is the artist on one of my favorite terrifying comics - Nameless, written by Grant Morrison. That is legit terrifying space horror. I'm sure this will be a fun collection of stories in time for Halloween - John McCrea is involved as an artist, and I love his work as well.
20th Century Men #2 by Deniz Camp and S. Morian, published by Image Comics
I very much enjoyed the first issue of 20th Century Men, and I'm excited to read more. This is a story about American history, only there were super-powered individuals involved as well. But it's very much not your typical superhero stories. It's more like, an alternate history of 20th century America where some of the key players have super powers (like the American president). I like that this comic feels big and ambitious. Even if a book doesn't totally get there, I like to feel like comic creators are shooting for the stars. I loved the art from S. Morian and Aditya Bidikar. It felt like Morian and Bidikar were channeling a number of different styles in the same comic, and the book at turns felt beautiful, tense, majestic, and dramatic, all thanks to the terrific art. This is a terrific read.
Creepshow #1 by Chris Burnham, Paul Dini, Stephen Langford, John McCrea & Others, published by Skybound by way of Image Comics
‘Tis the season for ghosts, goblins, and any ol’ thing to go bump in the night. What better way than with Creepshow to hit the ground running than for a new horror anthology series featuring some of today’s most freak festive names in the biz? That is exactly what this new series is. Putting to comics what the Stephen King novella and 1980s horror-comedy of the same name did during the rise and peak of the genre niche. Visually, this debut pulls no punches. With Burnham writing and drawing the opening act it’s scary how satisfying of a nostalgic throwback this read is. Pair that with the McCrea illustrated story of a kids birthday party gone awry. This comic is a must grab for horror fans and Halloween fanatics alike. I just checked my tracking number. My copy is still in transit. Where’s yours?
Stuff of Nightmares #1 by R.L. Stine, A.L. Kaplan, Roman Titov, Jim Campbell & Francesco Francavilla, published by BOOM!
Keeping things consistent with the theme this week, I’d like to recommend a second horror anthology, but this one is in continuity with nothing other than horror scribe-legend R.L. Stine. Goosebumps books were a staple of mine growing up as a kid. I’d sneak peaks of them at the library or borrow copies from friends so as my Reagan-fearing conservative-Christian folks wouldn’t take notice. (Because everyone knows that if one reads a book about a green ghoul from the shadows of the haunted woods then you’re sure to be dammed to an eternity in the flaming pit of fire, right?) In similar fashion to Creepshow, or another favorite Tales from the Crypt, Stuff of Nightmares features a narrator of the spooky tales. But this narrator seems to have slight more context to the stories being told. We shall see, dear readers.
Ice Cream Man #32 by W. Maxwell Prince, Martin Morazzo & Chris OHalloran, published by Image
By now you should be recognizing a theme from my recommendations this week. The weather is cooling. I cannot help but gravitate to the horror genre, whether it be blatant or tinged with existential dread and sadness. Ice Cream Man is an ongoing horror anthology that I’ve recommended in our Catch it columns routinely. This issue in particular hit me in an unexpected and personal way that I honestly did not expect. As I near the two and a half sober mark in my journey in life sans-alcohol I’m reminded how difficult it was to admit I had an addiction but how thankful I was that I took the step and played the odds of recovery. My story never got as dramatically depressing as Doug’s does in this story, but it was a struggle nonetheless. Thank you to the Ice Cream Man creative team for telling this story, and I guess we’ll have to see how the math plays out for if we get to see Doug again. It’s strange to say this, but as Ice Cream Man stories go, I truly hope that we don’t.
