by Jarrod Jones. Braving the gauntlet of Big Two events, prestige format risk-takers, off-the-radar indie releases and a non-stop avalanche of floppies is DoomRocket’s HOT PRESS. With so many comics out there screaming for your eyeballs, HOT PRESS is here with short-burst reviews of the latest releases from this wild comics industry of ours. This week: I talk up DC’s upcoming ‘Jurassic League’, Marvel’s ‘Savage Avengers’ relaunch, and recommend Stewart Kenneth Moore’s ‘Project MK Ultra’.
Okay. I’ve decided to make time for more DoomRocket-related things in the new year (I’ll be announcing something on this front in the weeks ahead), which means HOT PRESS, your 15th favorite comics newsletter (ambitious, Jones), needs my love and care. The best bit about having your own newsletter is that it can take one any form you choose, and since I’m the sort who freezes whenever it’s time to write within a template HOT PRESS is going to look a little different this week. And that’s okay! Change is always okay.
So, what do we have to talk about this week?
– Well, Daniel Warren Johnson and Juan Gedeon just announced that they’re about to launch Jurassic League over at DC this May, which rules. Yes, you read that title correctly: Jurassic League is a six-issue limited series that says “Suppose the Justice League were dinosaurs,” and I’m going to buy it. I’m not really in the market for buying single issues of anything these days, but if DC wants to make insane comics with brilliant creators, I have to do my part in encouraging them. The terrific Susana Polo over at Polygon has your exclusive first look at Jurassic League, go check that out and be sure to pre-order this sucker. I’m positive this is going to go fast. (“Flashraptor.” What a funny world we live in.)
– I was just about to send out this newsletter when Marvel dropped the news that friend of DoomRocket David Pepose (Scout’s Honor, Spencer & Locke) will be relaunching Savage Avengers with Carlos Magno in May. This is David’s first Marvel book, by the way; getting to play with characters like Daredevil, Anti-Venom, Black Knight, Cloak & Dagger, Conan, and Weapon H? Talk about getting thrown into the deep end. Congratulations, David, that’s amazing!
– MJ & I decided to get ready for Michel Fiffe’s upcoming Copra run (issues 42, 43, 44, and 45 are coming soon, you can subscribe over at Fiffe’s website) by filling out our trade collections. I had a hell of a time pinning down a Bergen Street edition of Copra Round Two at one of our brick-n-mortar comic shops here in Chicago, so in my increasing aggravation I turned to ebay. There I found a copy for a reasonable price, though was I surprised to find out that I had accidentally purchased a copy of the Image Comics reprint, which makes our shelves look just insane. The Image reprint isn’t even the same size as the Bergen Street original! Gah!
Anyway, I’m dumb and didn’t realize I could just buy a copy straight from Bergen Street, which I’ll be doing shortly. I’ve been working around comics for almost a decade, by the way.
– I think it’s really funny that Marvel blew up its fictional moon—in Fantastic Four: Reckoning War #1, out now!—the same week Lionsgate released Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall, a movie that I must admit I do want to see. As for Reckoning War, I read it, and… the moon sure did get blown up! Lots of “sky is falling” content coming out from all over the place these days, that’s always fun.
– You should check out Victor LaValle & Leonard Kirk’s Sabretooth #1; it’s gnarly. Possibly the most violent in-universe Marvel book I’ve read in years, and it spends quite a bit of time inside the mind of Victor Creed, which isn’t a very pleasant place to be but it is really, really spooky. My kind of stuff. I sure wish Rain Beredo’s coloring in the book didn’t make all the bloodshed look like folks were leaking out grape jelly, though. Far as I’m concerned—in comics and movies and television, it doesn’t matter—the color of blood ought to pop, either bright red or deep crimson. The sight of it should make you feel uneasy. Possibly even queasy! But then, I’m a fucking weirdo, so. Your mileage may vary. Good first issue.
– Also in Marvel Stuff: Peter Milligan and Michael Allred are together again with The X-Cellent #1, a book I will read once I find out where MJ stashed it. (She’s always stashing comics.)
– Sometimes comics people send me cool things to check out, and then I get really excited about what I’ve seen and I feel the need to share their stuff with you here. Such a thing took place this month: Stewart Kenneth Moore, the artist behind 2000 AD’s killer Defoe black & white zombie strip, has launched his adaptation of Project MK-Ultra: Sex, Drugs, and the CIA Vol. 1. (based on a screenplay by Brandon Beckner and Scott Sampila), and the acid-fueled pages contained within this hardcover beauty are staggering. Head over to Clover Press’ website to check out a full-color preview, and consider ordering a copy while you’re there; this is heady, paranoid, crackpot comics, the kind you want to get lost in. Moore wants to take us on a ride and I say we let him!
That’s all I got this week. Read any good comics lately? Share them in the comments or email me: ja****@do********.com. Talk soon.
More HOT PRESS:
HOT PRESS 1/5/22: The Best Comics of 2021
HOT PRESS 11/10/21: Mosley & Reilly’s ‘The Thing’ clobbers a solid week of comics
HOT PRESS 11/3/21: ‘My Bad’, ‘Newburn’ & ‘The Human Target’, other good stuff
