Did not love this week. Not one bit. In fact, this morning, I thought, “Is this the week I end my streak?” Thankfully, I heard the chants of the crowd, and I started stomping my boot, and I was able to get my second wind! Still, it’s gonna be a short one.
Links I Loved
Over at FansNotExperts, Mikey C. is doing 30 movie reviews in 30 days on the Geek Mentality podcast. It’s an ambitious project, but it’s also been really good. I’ve sort of hopped around, as I haven’t seen all of the films and don’t wanna be spoiled. Still, it’s worth checking out for his theme songs alone!
Run The Numbers
I feel like things have slowed down with this. I mean, I’m sitting pretty with trades, but I should be at 150 comics by now. And I really need to read a “book” book one of these days. Anyway, despite reading fewer things, I read more things that “count”. By that, there were 2 comics that came out recently that had folks talking, so I decided to check the both out.
First up, we had Marvel Knights: The World to Come #1, written by Christopher Priest, with art by Joe Quesada. The interesting thing to me is that this project would have “broken the internet” 20 years ago. I mean, Priest was the first Black Panther writer that anyone gave a shit about, and he contributed a lot of the lore that served as the foundation for the movies. Prior to the Priest run, Black Panther was pretty much just “The Fantastic Four’s Black Friend”. Later, other writers would come along, and build on what Priest had done, like Reginald Hudlin and his horrible idea of making T’Challa marry the X-Men’s Storm. Meanwhile, Quesada’s Marvel Knights imprint was the home of the “street level” Marvel heroes who weren’t as popular as their X-Men/Avengers brethren. Not only was its grim & gritty noir approach successful, but many feel this is what positioned Quesada to take over as Marvel’s Editor-In-Chief – a role he held for a decade. So, given the history of both, you’d think folks would really be excited for this, but it feels the response has been muted.
I read the first issue, and I’m not entirely sure of what I read. As someone who has never really loved Quesada’s art, I was pleasantly surprised here. He hasn’t drawn in a while, so maybe the prolonged hiatus was what he needed in order for him to bring his “A-game”. As for the story, it felt like I needed to have done some homework. I mean, the solicitation text had already told us the story kicked off with the death of the Black Panther, but it’s not clear which Black Panther. The story jumps up and down the timeline, centering around an event they call “The World To Come”. Basically, there’s life before The World To Come, and there’s life after The World To Come. So, in this timeline, T’Challa still married Storm, but she’s eventually be killed in something called The Race Wars. Needing an heir, he seeks out an old flame, and brings her to Wakanda. This is shown in flashbacks, while present-day Wakanda seems to have fallen, as T’Challa has turned rule over to the people, who have turned it over to clerics. So, his role as King and Black Panther are being challenged in the same combat ritual we saw in the films. I’m gonna spoil something here, but this might be what gets you to read it (as it’s certainly why I’ll keep reading): At throughout the fight, we come to realize that T’Challa’s opponent is his own son, seemingly brainwashed by the clerics. What we don’t expect, however, is that last page reveal, where T’Challa unmasks his son, revealing a white face!
I did appreciate the backmatter in the issue, as Priest lays out a timeline, and provides context and translations of some of the text. This is the kind of stuff that’s sometimes left out of the collections, so it might behoove folks to buy this one in single-issue form, in order to get the complete package. I’ll stick with it for now.
Next up, we had The Death of the Silver Surfer #1, written by Greg Pak, with art by Sumit Kumar. Now, I was probably setting myself up for failure, as I’ve gone on record that I loathe Cosmic Marvel. So, Galactus, Surfer, the Guardians of the Galaxy? I avoid them like the Plague. Still, I’m a sucker for a “death” in media, so I thought I’d check it out. I’m surprised to say that I liked it. I don’t totally know what’s going on, but I liked it.
So, we’re introduced to Kelly Koh, who’s an agent with the Bureau of Alien Neutralization (B.A.N.). I’m not sure if she’s shown up elsewhere, or if this is her first appearance. In fact, I’ve been able to find almost nothing about B.A.N. She’s really good at bringing in her targets, so she’s tasked with bringing in the Surfer. Apparently, B.A.N. is run by some sort of corporation, and they need to do something big to generate more profits. They need a group to go after, and they feel mutants and Avengers are off limits, so they set their sights on aliens. Koh faces off against Surfer, thinking she’s captured him, but her shot causes him to be unstable, triggering an explosion. When she wakes up, Surfer has brought her home, and is having a conversation with her mother. So, she’s gotta deal with whether to finish the mission for her immoral employers or to realize Surfer isn’t a threat.
Again, I felt like I needed to know more going in than I did. Also, it felt rushed together, as there’s scene where Koh announced herself as “Sandy Koh”, but is called “Kelly” everywhere else in the story. I found it hilarious that the issue featured a profile on Marvel’s Proofreader, as he clearly didn’t do his job here! I’m interested in the story, but this might be Wait for the Trade territory.
Things You Might Have Missed This Week
- Genndy Tartakovsky announced that his series, Primal, will return to Adult Swim for a 3rd season. Now, however, the series will be an anthology, explaining that season 2 episode “The Primal Theory” was something of a “test drive” of what to expect going forward.
- Bad news for Guys Who Never Had a Chance, as it was revealed that Hailee Steinfeld married Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen on May 31st.
- Speaking of football players we hate, Aaron Rodgers has been signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers, so he’s your problem now, Pittsburgh!
- Miley Cyrus revealed that recently becoming a Disney Legend meant that she can now perform her Hannah Montana songs again – something she had been forbidden to do after leaving the role.
- Nick Cannon will be replacing Will Arnett as the host of Fox’s LEGO Masters, which makes no sense, as Arnett actually seems like the kind of guy who’s familiar with LEGO. I can just hear Cannon telling a lame joke about, “When I was growing up, we were too poor for LEGOs. We had Tyco Super Blocks!” Plus, you know he’s gonna be stealing from the set, taking stuff home to his 27 kids…
- Tom Rhys Harries has been cast as the lead in the DC Studios Clayface film. I’m sorry, but this is a movie you make after you’ve made a Batman project. Otherwise, who cares? It’ll be just like all the Sony Spider-Man without Spider-Man movies!
- Marvel Studios is trying to secure a December 15th, 2028 release date for a mystery theatrical release, which would give them *four* releases that year. This is speculated to be either Black Panther 3, the surprisingly-still-in-development Blade, or the sequel to this summer’s Fantastic Four: First Steps.
- Speaking of the MCU, Thunderbolts* director Jake Schrier has been hired to direct the first Marvel Studios mutant film (which is some iteration of X-Men).
- If you’re a Patriot with bad credit, and you’ve always wanted to own a piece of shit, Made in America cell phone, then Trump Mobile is coming for ya! The Trump Organization announced it’s getting into the “burner phone” business, as it will release an American manufactured phone, expected to cost $499, with plans that will offer flat fee telemedicine and more. And this certainly doesn’t look weird given that any tariffs imposed against Chinese made phones would kneecap their competition, giving them an unfair advantage. Doesn’t look weird at all…
- Chip Mosher, formerly of Comixology, announced Neon Ichiban, which is his new digital comics platform that basically promises to fix the problems of modern-day Comixology. Maybe it will, but that’s a terrible name. That’s what happens when you let hipsters name your shit. “Neon Ichiban” is either a really cool unsigned band, or it’s a sushi/karaoke bar that doesn’t card minors.
- Finally, we got this promo image of Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man. So, they filmed a movie. So did Jason David Frank! Big whoop! Wanna fight about it? I won’t believe this is an actual thing until it’s in a theater, with folks seated.
I don’t really have a ton to say here, as I think I’m just as confused as the rest of you. For anyone new here, I was once a Purchasing Brand Manager at Diamond Comic Distributors – once the largest comic distributor in North America. Well, if you have followed any comic industry media this year, you know that the company filed for Chapter 11, then it was bought, then that fell through and it was bought again. And now there are a couple lawsuits ongoing, and I really can’t tell you who owns what at this point. What I can say, however, is that the main way most folks know about Diamond is that they published Previews, which was a monthly catalog sent to comic shops, so that retailers could order the upcoming products from the various publishers and companies. In fact, a good portion of my job was helping to get put this catalog together every month, reaching out to my publishers for solicitation text. After a while, the concept seemed antiquated, and folks lamented “Why doesn’t Diamond just put this thing online?” Well, with the new owners, it seems they’re getting their wish.
Yesterday, Diamond announced that, going forward, Previews would be a digital-only publication, powered by PDF publisher Joomag. In fact, the first issue of that venture was released today, meaning that the June 2025 Previews is the final issue in print form. This marks the end of an era, as well as the end of something I had a hand in. I haven’t worked in that industry in almost 20 years, but I made a lot of friends, and I briefly got to see “how the sausage was made.” A lot of folks lost their jobs in the past few months, but they seem to be bouncing back in other, and better, places.
A funny thing about Previews is I’ve *never* used it. See, the idea is that customers get the catalog – either they purchase it or their retailer gives them a copy for free – and they go through this massive “phonebook” and mark off items they want. They’re to return an order form to their retailer, who will add their orders to one big order sent to Diamond. It’s preordering, essentially, but by way of huge printed tome. Anyway, I’ve never done that. Sure, I had copies of the catalog, and I’d even mark stuff in it, but I never took the final step of giving that order to a retailer. At best, I just used to to maintain my own personal list of things to look out for. This could backfire, though, as there are some items a retailer would never order if not for a customer letting them know there was interest. Oh, well. I’ve managed the past 30 years doing it this way, and it’s what I’m comfortable with.
Anyway, this isn’t exactly a West Week Ever, but let’s pour one out for the print edition of Previews. I remember when Wizard Magazine went online-only, which lasted about 3 issues, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the same happened here. I guess time will tell…
