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...
Night of the Ghoul #1 by Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla, published by Dark HorseScott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla together? On a horror comic? Sign me up. These two have previously worked together years ago when Snyder was writing Detective Comics. They worked on a very memorable arc called Black Mirror involving James Gordon Jr. Snyder knows horror really well - some of my favorite comics by him are horror books, particularly American Vampire and Wytches. And Francavilla is an absolute master of art, and was the artist on the incredible Afterlife with Archie, a terrifying and gut-wrenching read. So the hook here in Night of the Ghoul is that there was a lost horror film from 1936 and everyone involved was killed. Someone in present day finds the reel - but the titular ghoul is very much real. I love this. I absolutely love the idea of a story involving Old Hollywood and evil magic and long-lost mysteries. I'm sure this will be a terrific read.
Kaya #1 by Wes Craig with Jason Wordie and Andworld, published by Image Comics
Kaya is clearly a passion project for writer-artist Wes Craig. Craig is the supremely talented artist behind Deadly Class. That series is coming to a close, so it's exciting to see him heading on to something new. Particularly a story like this, which seems like a real labor of love and a total departure from Deadly Class. I've seen preview pages and Kaya looks absolutely wonderful. This seems like a terrific, all-ages, fantasy adventure series that everyone you know should definitely pick up. Craig is an absolute master at big action and wild storytelling, but he is equally adept at small, intimate moments. I think this is going to be a special series.
Dark Ride #1 by Joshua Williamson, Andrei Bressan, and Adriano Lucas, published by Image ComicsThe premise in Dark Ride is a really fun one. There's a popular theme par called Devil Land, and a lifelong fan finally gets a job there, only to realize that this park isn't just horror-themed rides. There are real horrors going on with murder and sinister secrets. It absolutely sounds like a fun comic, but the hook for me isn't the premise itself, it's the creative team. This comic marks a reunion for the creative team behind the comic
Birthright. I absolutely adored
Birthright (my review
here) as a story that found a way to combine high fantasy and tense family drama, with gorgeous art. So, I totally trust this creative team to deliver a great book that I'm sure I'll enjoy on a number of levels.
Gotham City: Year One #1 by Tom King, Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, and Jordie Bellaire, published by DC ComicsThis looks and sounds like it's going to be amazing. This is the story of how the shining city of Gotham turned into the dark, crime-riddled city we know it as today. But this all happened decades before Batman, and it involves the original star of Detective Comics, Slam Bradley. What I've seen of the art from Hester, Gapstur and Bellaire looks terrific. And King has a very high batting average with me. I at least *like* everything he does, and frequently I love his work. So I'm very excited to see what this story turns out to be.
