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Saturday, October 16, 2004

DC COMICS FOR JANUARY

DC Comics is releasing its solicitations for January on Monday at 5 p.m.

For a complete rundown, with more than 100 images, check back here then.

DARK HORSE COMICS FIRST LOOKS

For covers and four- or five-page previews of Dark Horse Comics arriving in stores on Wednesday, CLICK HERE.

Titles include Conan #9, Goon #9, Michael Chabon Presents: The Amazing Adventures of the Escapist #4, Shi: Ju-Nen #2, Star Wars Tales #21 and Star Wars: Empire #25.

SMALL GODS COLLECTION

With the second story arc, "Dead Man's Hand," set to start in November in Small Gods #5, Image Comics is collecting the first story arc in Small Gods: Killing Grin on Jan. 19.

"Our sell-through has been very gratifying," said series creator and writer Jason Rand. "The first three issues are sold out -- although some shops may still have copies. In fact, the third issue nearly sold out before it hit the shelves, and the initial orders on #4 were similar enough that I'd be very surprised if the trend doesn't continue there. It's very pleasing, but it makes it tough for people just hearing about Small gods now to get on board. So having the trade out fairly quickly is good. And we're pricing it to attract new readers, as well."

The trade paperback will be 128 pages and will cost $9.95.

Here's how Image describes the book:

"Small Gods tells the story of an Earth on which an estimated 1 percent of the world's population possesses psychic abilities. The book follows the experiences of a variety of cops and criminals, as well as 'regular' people, who try to live 'normal' lives in a not-quite so normal world.

The new storyline, "Dead Man's Hand," revolves around Bobby Pope, a petty con man and low-level empath and telepath. Bobby's abilities let him both sense what people are feeling and see what's in their minds, in essence allowing him to build up a mental picture of what they're going to do in the next few seconds.

"Just like Owen Young in the first arc, it's these very abilities that get Bobby into trouble," Rand said. "Seeing the future is a common ability in Small Gods -- but the abilities of precogs like Owen are entirely unconscious. Being able to predict the future on demand, even if it's only a few seconds in advance, can be very useful to some people."

In Bobby's case, those people are a group of crooked narcotics officers, led by Theodore Irvine, a character who made a cameo appearance in the first arc of Small Gods.

"I like doing that, putting little links between the different arcs," Rand said. "In fact, the plan is that every story will feature at least one character from the next arc, usually in a minor role. The idea is to build the sense of Small Gods as a unified world. It's not essential for the readers to get each story in order to understand what's going on in the others, but those who do will be able to see that world take shape."

While "Killing Grin" is as much a character drama as a cop story, "Dead Man's Hand" promises much more action.

"The second arc has a lot in common with action and chase movies," Rand said. "It's still got the deep characterization that I think is important in any story and that really seemed to strike a chord with the readers in the first arc.but there's plenty of action for people who like that kind of thing, and at a pretty frenetic pace, too. Shootouts, car chases, martial arts mayhem - about the only thing we don't have is a full-scale military assault. Guess you'll have to wait for the third arc for that."