by Paul
With last week’s bizarre feeding frenzy on the widely-mocked John Cassaday X-Force #48 variant, are we now on the cusp of a bizarre new trend in comics? Will we see publishers encourage artists to draw poorly on purpose to command attention from social media commentators and speculators? Will we see a new class of outsider artists become the kings and queens of the variant cover scene, drawing ludicrous rates for childlike renderings of beloved characters? Will we all have sobering moments of self-reckoning and reflection should we find out John Cassaday or one of his loved ones has had a catastrophic health crisis? Can we all come to grips with the simple idea that even the greatest artist might lay an egg now and then, which is why no one ever performs William Shakespeare’s King John? Shakespeare didn’t let it get him down, and neither will John Cassaday, because they knew—and now you know—There’s Always Next Week!
MOON MAN #1
Art: Marco Locati | Story: Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi, Kyle Higgins (Image Comics, $3.99)
Recording artists venturing into comics have a checkered history. Sometimes you get a weird misfire like the Evanescence comic from a year or two back where it was a series of, I think, short pieces illustrating song lyrics that were like comic adaptations of music videos, only without the music. Or the video. Sometimes you get goofy junk-food comics where the likes of Twiztid battle ghouls and ghosts armed with nothing but sick, sick rhymes. Once in a while—at least once, anyway—you get an acknowledged classic like Umbrella Academy. But for the most part, you’d no more want to read a musician’s vanity comic than you’d want to listen to an album called John Byrne Sings The Carpenters.
Happily, though, Moon Man, Kid Cudi’s new series from Image, looks poised to land on the Umbrella Academy end of the spectrum. Even though it’s clearly a vanity project, starring as it does a character who looks just like Cudi and shares Cudi’s middle name of Ramon, this is clearly a story he’s had gestating for a long time (he’s recorded three separate albums called Man on the Moon). He’s helped by comics pros who are really executing here, particularly Marco “Kid Cati” Locati, whose pacing and scratchy linework capture a creeping sense of dread that reminds me of Ted McKeever. I have feeling that this is a series we’ll remember when it’s time to make Best of 2024 lists. Off to a good start here.
PRE-ORDER IT: Marco Locati Main Cover | Erica D’Urso Variant | Rod Reis Variant
JILL AND THE KILLERS #1
Art: Roberta Ingranata | Story: Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (Oni Press, $6.99)
Jill and the Killers is about teenage girls who are playing one of those catch-a-killer subscription games that are always being advertised on those soul-eroding true-crime podcasts I shouldn’t be listening to all the time, but they’re just so interesting. Then they slowly begin to realize that the game is… ALL TOO REAL.
This is one of my favorite premises for a new series that I’ve heard for a long time. It’s a little bit like Only Murders in the Building if it had been made by people who hadn’t exhausted all of their real-life experience decades ago. Also, I love love love the Jill and the Killers logo. There are very few logos right now in comics that I would want a sticker of to put on my laptop or my bullet journal, and this one is at the top of the list. I have a good feeling about this book. It’s sticker-worthy.
PRE-ORDER IT: Sanya Anwar Main Cover | Marguerite Sauvage Variant | Alison Sampson Variant
SIRENS OF THE CITY #6
Art: Khary Randolph | Story: Joanne Starer (Boom! Studios, $4.99)
If you haven’t been reading Sirens of the City I don’t know why you would start with this final issue, but I’ve been kicking myself because I forgot to put it on my Best of 2023 list so I wanted to mention it here. This is a storytelling masterclass from Khary Randolph, for my money the best cartoonist working today. This book throws a lot of characters at you fast, but Randolph stages the action so that it’s always clear who’s doing what and where. The visual conceit of this book is that it’s in black and white, but each faction of supernatural characters has their own spot color, and when they all start mixing together with Randolph’s strong blacks it’s a beautiful thing to behold.
#6 may not be where you want to jump in, but fortunately you can pre-order the collected edition here. In fact, I’m such a believer in this book that, now through February 12, we’ll sell it to you at a discount of $16.99, $3.00 off the cover price. Take a chance on this one.
PRE-ORDER IT: Khary Randolph Main Cover | Vanesa R. Del Rey Variant | Collected Edition
ON FOC THIS WEEK
Click here to see all titles on FOC this week.
GHOST RIDER: FINAL VENGEANCE #1
Art: Danny Kim | Story: Benjamin Percy (Marvel Comics, $4.99) | FOC: 1/29
Juan Ferreyra Main Cover
Greg Capullo Variant
Ben Su Foil Variant
Chad Hardin Variant
Mark Texeira Variant
SPAWN #350
Art: Brett Booth, Carlo Barberi | Story: Rory McConville, Todd McFarlane (Image Comics, $4.99) | FOC: 1/29
Puppeteer Lee Main Cover
Todd McFarlane Variant (Color)
Ryan Stegman Variant
Brett Booth Variant
Jonathan Glapion Variant
Todd McFarlane Variant (Black and White)
WOMEN OF MARVEL (2024) #1
Art: Various | Story: Gail Simone et al (Marvel Comics, $5.99) | FOC: 1/29
Carmen Carnero Main Cover
Jan Bazaldua Variant
Elena Casagrande Women of Marvel Variant
Zu Orzu Variant