As is customary at the beginning of any year, it’s time to look ahead to all the exciting events coming up. Sure, there are the Olympics, and the long weekend afforded by the jubilee celebrations, as well as the inevitable countdown to not-the-end-of-the-world, but all that really matters to the likes of me is new comics. So here are a few things to look out for in 2012, including graphic novels, new on-going series and a very special crossover event.
Fairest
Fairest: I’ve already discussed how much I love Bill Willingham’s Fables series of comics, so it’s only natural that I would be excited for this spin-off. This new on-going series will be made up of self-contained stories featuring fairy tale princesses, but with the obligatory Fables twist of living in the real world. The first arc will be about Sleeping Beauty, who has hardly featured before in the Fables universe, and the second arc, somewhat thrillingly, is titled ‘Rapunzel in Japan’. Willingham promises that any character who fits the description ‘fairest in the land’ will get a chance to shine, including Cinderella, who is a spy in the Fables universe. Though, he has also suggested that readers will be surprised at just who fits that description. I’m thinking Prince Charming might get a few issues in the spotlight too. The art is guaranteed to be beautiful, and the stories are sure to be original, witty and entertaining. If you’ve never read Fables before, I’m sure this won’t be a disadvantage (though Fables #107 was a stand-alone story that explored Sleeping Beauty’s background a little and is worth hunting down online.) Pick up issue #1 when it goes on sale in March and discover a side of comics that isn’t all superheroes in tight costumes.
Dial H: Pretty much as soon as the DC relaunch was announced, fans were talking about which books would be the first to get cancelled. This month it was announced that six books would be cancelled, mercifully including the mediocre Hawk and Dove, and they would be replaced by six new series. While World’s Finest looks good, and The Ravagers is intriguing, the most legitimately exciting of the new titles is Dial H, which will be written by critically acclaimed fantasy author, China Miéville. Not much is known just yet about this take of the Dial H for Hero series, which originated in the 60’s and had a reboot in 2003. The premise is as engaging as ever though – an everyday human is given powers by dialling H-E-R-O on a mysterious rotary telephone dial. DC’s official description seems to suggest that this version of the classic story will be truer to its original form – “a bold new take on a cult classic concept about the psychological effects on an everyman who accidentally gains powers to become a hero.” Sounds like it’ll be less of a fun-filled, action-packed romp than its predecessors, but with Miéville writing, it’s definitely not one to miss.
Avengers vs. X-Men (AvX): AvX promises to be THE event of 2012. Two of Marvel’s most well-known and beloved super teams facing off against each other is almost definitely going to be an exciting read, especially in the wake of the X-Men’s split and the fact that some characters are members of both teams. The teaser art which has been gradually released this month gives us a taste of what this battle will be like, with friends facing off against each other (Spiderman vs. Iceman) and old grudge matches being revisited (Rogue vs. Ms Marvel.) Crossovers of this type may be nothing new, and are at times regarded with cynicism, but with the talent involved, AvX seems destined to live up to the hype and be a sure fire hit. Issue #0 goes on sale at the end of March, with the event starting in earnest in April and being published bimonthly. There will also be a 12 issue mini-series tie-in simply titled ‘AvX: Versus’ which will focus on battles from the main story in more detail, and will have heavy action and little story. You can check out all the teaser art released so far here.
Batman: Earth One: What at first appears to be another tedious retelling of Batman’s origin story is actually a long awaited companion piece to the hugely successful Superman: Earth One which was released two years ago. The Batman book is an original graphic novel, and will change some details of the well-established back story of Bruce Wayne’s journey to becoming Batman. Created by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank, the recently released unlettered story pages are beautiful to look at and also hint at a much different side to Alfred the butler than we are used to seeing, which is definitely intriguing. Artist Gary Frank sums it up as, ‘He’s not the Batman people know, but he might be one day.’ The long wait for this book would suggest that art, story and characterisation are going to be carefully crafted and absolutely spot on. No shoddy panels or clunky exposition here. Check out the first few pages here, and while there’s no release date other than ‘2012’ just yet, you can be sure I’ll be back here talking about it as soon as it hits the shelves.
If there’s anything coming up that you’re excited about that I’ve missed, feel free to let me know in the comments!
I literally can’t wait for these. I’ve been enjoying a few of the new 52 titles like Action Comics, Detective Comics, Batman and Green Lantern, so I’ll definitely give the new ones a look. As for AvX, the only way I won’t be checking that out is if I somehow implode with excitement before the launch!
Even though I’m by no means a huge Marvel fan, I’m ridiculously excited for AvX! Especially Squirrel Girl vs Pixie