The Weekly Pull: Green Arrow, X-Men: Before the Fall, Hellboy and the BPRD, and More
06/27/2023 03:37 pm EDT
Coda Deluxe Edition
- Written by Simon Spurrier
- Art by Matías Bergara
- Colors by Michael Doig
- Letters by Jim Campbell and Colin Bell
- Published by Boom Studios
It was recently announced that a sequel to Simon Spurrier's and Matías Bergara's much-vaunted 2018 fantasy series Coda will arrive from Boom Studios this fall. For readers who missed the original 12-issue saga, the deluxe hardcover edition featuring the entire original series and a newly added epilogue arrives this week. Any reader already familiar with Spurrier or Bergara's work in series like Step By Bloody Step or Damn Them All will already know how well they play upon established genre tropes to mine fascinating and unexpected ideas from fantasy and horror. Coda is an outstanding example of their distinctive storytelling approaches that laid the groundwork for further collaborations and successes. It tells the story of Hum, a roving bard in a world where apocalyptic events transformed magic and wonder into something far more dangerous. Readers are invited into expansive settings richly detailed by Bergara's designs and fluid style. Hum's journey brings unexpected twists and depths of humanity, especially for a man named after his signature, "Hm." This gorgeous collection of a tale that captured so much well-earned attention arrives just in time for readers to remind themselves or find for the first time what all of the fuss over Coda is about before picking up the next new issue in September. -- Chase Magnett
Creed: The Next Round #1
- Written by LaToya Morgan and Jai Jamison
- Art by Wilton Santos
- Colors by DJ Chavis
- Letters by AndWorld Design
- Published by Boom! Studios
Set a decade after the events of the third Creed film, The Next Round follows the journey of Adonis' daughter, Amara Creed, as she continues her family's legacy and navigates the world of underground boxing. While not everything necessarily needs to be expanded out into a "franchise" nowadays, I deeply admire the choice to tell Amara's journey through the medium of comics, and I'm curious to see what the story has in store. — Jenna Anderson
Goodbye, Eri
- Created by Tatsuki Fujimoto
- Published by Viz Media
Tatsuki Fujimoto is best known for his ongoing shōnen manga Chainsaw Man, but he's also put out some one-shot stories. Much of his early work was in two recent volumes, but it was Look Back, released in print in English last year, that knocked me off my feet when I read it. Now his other buzzworthy one-shot, Goodbye, Eri, is getting the same treatment Viz Media. The story is about a boy who makes movies with his phone whose life changes after meeting a mysterious girl shortly after his mother's death. Like Look Back, the story focuses on two people bonding on a shared love of a particular art form. Goodbye, Eri further blurs the line between fiction in reality, both for the characters and the readers, and contemplates how we choose to memorialize those we've lost, either in memory or the stories we tell about them, and the burden that places on whoever does the remembering and the telling. It's a fast read full of surprising page turns, lingering panels, and a voyeuristic first-person perspective that gets the reader intimately involved in the narrative. Goodbye, Eri is another entry in the must-read canon of a manga master. -- Jamie Lovett
Green Arrow #3
- Written by Joshua Williamson
- Art by Sean Isaake
- Colors by Romulo Fajardo Jr.
- Letters by Troy Peteri
- Published by DC
The current Green Arrow series has been an absolute must-read for me thus far, and this week's issue might be the most noteworthy yet. The last installment before the series takes its two-month Knight Terrors-related break, the issue delivers some monumental developments with regard to the ArrowFam, all while pushing the central story to new heights. Believe the hype and catch up on Green Arrow, if you haven't already. — Jenna Anderson
Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 - Fearful Symmetry #1
- Written by Mike Mignola and Chris Roberson
- Art by Alison Sampson
- Colors by Lee Loughridge
- Letters by Clem Robins
- Published by Dark Horse Comics
Mike Mignola made himself one of comics' living legends by creating and developing Hellboy, but he should receive a similar set of plaudits for the outstanding work of curation performed when drafting other artists and creators into his world. The long-awaited one-shot Hellboy and the B.P.R.D.: 1957 – Fearful Symmetry is just such an example as it delivers a distinctive vision of gothic horror from English comics artist Alison Sampson. Her distinctive style has populated a number of horror and horror-adjacent series for more than a decade, touching upon series like Werewolf by Night, Department of Truth, and Sleeping Beauties, although her creator-owned series Winnebago Graveyard still stands as the must-read recommendation amongst that bibliography. This week Sampson brings her stark depictions of character and eerie, shadow-laden settings to the world of Hellboy after a number of delays. The title refers to a William Blake poem—"The Tyger," a favorite amongst comic book writers—and readers familiar with the poem will recall the way in which it invokes nature's savage cruelty with such beauty. The combination of that inspiration, the ever-reliable Hellboy scripts of Mignola and Roberson, and Sampson's vision of this distinctive corner of comics make for a one-shot too tempting to miss. -- Chase Magnett
Marvel: July 1963 Omnibus
- Written by Various
- Art by Various
- Published by Marvel Comics
Anything that celebrates the good, bad, and weird of comic history is a must-buy in my book — and Marvel's recent month-based anthologies are no exception. The latest reprints every comic Marvel published in July of 1963, including the landmark debuts of the Avengers and the X-Men. Come for that, but stay for a fascinating microcosm of the Marvel moment, including plenty of underrated romance, teen, and war comics. — Jenna Anderson
X-Men: Before the Fall - Heralds of Apocalypse #1
- Written by Al Ewing
- Art by Stafano Landini, Luca Pizzari, Rafael T. Pimental
- Colors by Ceci de la Cruz
- Letters by Travis Lanham
- Published by Marvel Comics
Following the X of Swords event, X-Men fans could only wonder what became of Apocalypse, Genesis, and their children after they walked into demon-infested Amenth. Based on the most recent X-Men Red issue, the answer is "nothing good." Apocalypse promised Professor X and Magneto that they'd see him again one day. While Magneto has since died in battle, Apocalypse is making good on his promised return as the Fall of X begins, or at least his family before him. Genesis, now influenced by the Annihilation Staff, has learned that Arakko resides on the planet formerly called Mars and exists in a state of peace. She is not pleased. She and her children march toward Krakoa, ready to wage a new war. In X-Men: Before the Fall -- Heralds of Apocalypse #1, X-Men Red writer Al Ewing teams with multiple artists as Genesis finally fills Apocalypse in on the truth of Arakko's origin. The issue will set the stage for the Fall of X, which kicks off in earnest in the upcoming X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023 one-shot. X-Men fans won't want to miss it. -- Jamie Lovett
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