Fall is right around the corner, and so is a veritable slew of intriguing new comics. What's in store for you? A new Spider-Man, new Buffy tales from Joss Whedon, and an absolute deluge of DC titles. Let's take a peek.
Ultimate Spider-Man (Marvel)
September 7
In the course of overhauling their alternate universe Ultimate line, Marvel's tapped a new Spider-Man (and it's one who isn't Peter Parker).
Brian Michael Bendis and Sarah Pichelli are the creative team behind this one, and Nick Spencer's similarly revamped Ultimate X-Men comes out September 7 too.
Casanova: Avaritia (Marvel/Icon)
September 7
After a three-year hiatus, Matt Fraction's dimension-hopping super-spy Casanova Quinn returns for a new miniseries that's sure to be replete with highbrow sexuality and knives-out familial espionage.
The prior volume was one of our favorite comics of the last decade.
DC Comics' Big Honking September Relaunch
If you've been off-world for the last couple months, you probably haven't heard that DC is restarting their entire superhero line with 52 first issues come September.
Some notable titles we're jazzed for include Grant Morrison's Action Comics (we had a chat with him recently), Paul Cornell's Wildstorm throwback Stormwatch, and Jeff Lemire's Animal Man. All are released September 7.
Other titles that have piqued our interest include OMAC (interview with Dan DiDio about that here), Scott Snyder's Swamp Thing, Gail Simone's Batgirl, J.H. William III's Batwoman, and Peter Milligan's Justice League Dark.
The flagship relaunch title (Jim Lee and Geoff Johns' Justice League ) hits stores August 31, and if you can wait until December 7, all 52 first issues are being released in a 1,216-page, $150 hardcover collection.
Holy Terror (Legendary)
September 14
Frank Miller's unapologetically brutal graphic novel about a superhero beating the hell out of Al-Qaeda finally comes to stores (without Batman as the lead character).
Will Miller win readers back in this post-All-Star Batman and Robin era? Or will this prompt more unrelenting memery?
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9 (Dark Horse)
September 14
After going through space and time and indulging in some zero-gravity whoopie with Angel in the Earth's troposphere, Buffy's going back to basics and slaying vamps.
We had a quick chat with Joss Whedon about this upcoming title at Comic-Con — its companion comic Angel and Faith hits stands August 31.
Prison Pit Volume III (Fantagraphics)
September
Johnny Ryan in the maestro of fucked-up, existentially bankrupt mutant exploitation comics. Fortunately for aficionados of juvenile brutality, he's releasing another volume of his hell-planet-fight-club anthology Prison Pit. It's simple and clean, like exfoliating with oven cleaner.
Also in October, Fantagraphics will releasing a new English reprint of Jacques Tardi's second volume of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec.
Avengers 1959 (Marvel)
October 5
Howard Chaykin helms this miniseries about Nick Fury's Cold War squad of Avengers, whose ranks include Kraven the Hunter and Sabertooth. Looks like some unabashedly weird retro fun.
The Unexpected (DC/Vertigo)
October 12
Remember Strange Adventures, Vertigo's science fiction anthology. They're doing a similar thing with The Unexpected, a horror and fantasy compilation which boasts such creators as Dave Gibbons, Brian Wood, and Jill Thompson.
Speaking of Thompson, she'll be contributing to another worth-your-money anthology, Dark Horse Comics Present #4 (September 21). Why's it worth your ducats? Because Beasts of Burden — Thompson and Evan Dorkin's ridiculously good supernatural pet-detective comic — will be nestled in DHCP's pages.
Spaceman (DC/Vertigo)
October 26
After making Batman: Knight of Vengeance the high point of DC summer mega-event Flashpoint, the 100 Bullets team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso helm this science fiction series about Orson, the drug-addled, genetically altered survivor of a scuttled NASA project to breed a human who can survive a trip to Mars.
From the preview we saw in this summer's Strange Adventures anthology, it looks like some serious high-concept lowbrow.
The Incredible Hulk (Marvel)
October 26
Jason Aaron is known for his fantastically brutal tales in Scalped and Punisher MAX, so hopefully he'll be able to give Bruce Banner an appropriately monstrous treatment. Marc Silvestri's on pencils.
October 26 also sees the release of Aaron's Wolverine & the X-Men, one of two new X-Men books debuting this fall (the other being Kieron Gillen's Uncanny X-Men, which hits stores November).
The Death Ray (Drawn & Quarterly)
October
Daniel Clowes' disaffected teenage vigilante series gets a welcome and handsome oversized reprint (preview here).
Drawn & Quarterly is also releasing a bookshelf collection of Kate Beaton's fantastic webcomic Hark A Vagrant in October.
Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes (IDW/DC)
October
For this miniseries, Chris Roberson teams up the original Enterprise crew with some old-school Legionnaires. Will Karate Kid learn the Vulcan Death Grip? My mind says no but my heart wishes yes.
Our Love is Real (Image)
November 2
Sam Humphries and Steven Sanders science fiction indie comic hit — which is about a future where plantsexuals lobby for equal romantic rights — gets widespread publication over at Image Comics.