Starting late last year, Vault has been hyping up their 2022 creator lineups with cryptically enticing teasers. We don’t yet know what these creators will be up to, but I’m sure there will be lots of love in the new titles we will see this year.
?Sooo, about our 2022 Creator Preview… anyone else as excited as we are?!✋
Here's the full rewind if you've been living under a rock for the past 2 weeks ? pic.twitter.com/5vaSkE3bYD
— Vault Comics (@thevaultcomics) January 16, 2022
Firsts and Faves
As for titles out this month, Vault is starting the year off with just a few, but all of them are heavy hitters. Here are the ones I’m keeping an eye on:
We Ride Titans #1
Jim Campbell (letterer), Dee Cunniffe (colorist), Tim Daniel (designer), Tres Dean (writer), Sebastián Piriz (artist)
January 12, 2022
This is a story about family dysfunction and the family business. Where the family business is riding towering metal titans to protect New Hyperion from even bigger monsters. Kit Hobbs is called in when her brother Dej botches what should have been a routine battle. This first issue builds the significant amount of tension that exists between Kit and her family and how that tension pours into her relationship with her very supportive and understanding partner. We also see where the Hobbs family sits in the political hierarchy, which isn’t surprising as the owners of a generations-old business responsible for the protection of the city. Like the story, the art keeps the focus on Kit throughout the majority of the pages, often framing scenes in dramatic backdrops that seem to reflect her prickly personality.
All in all, issue one serves up the basics, with the addition of monsters versus robots, but bonus points if you can spot the references to writer Tres Dean’s completely healthy obsession with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Lunar Room #2
Andworld Design (letterer), DJ Chavis (colorist), Tim Daniel (designer), Danny Lore (writer), Gio Sposito (writer)
January 12, 2022
In the last issue, Zero, mage and twin to a University of Knowledge Knower, managed to reconnect Sin with her werewolf side — if only for a moment and if only on just one part of her body. Now Sin wants that back, but Zero’s deal involves a mystical sword and the mysterious Lunar Room. While Sin thinks about her options and who she needs to talk to for more information, the rest of the issue focuses on Angie and her new companion, who serve as enforcers for the very powerful and very dangerous Gloria.
Though the story so far is enticing and seeing Sin work across the panels is delicious, I am thrown off by the transition choices where everything is divided up by chapters. This isn’t unusual, of course, except for the fact that the chapter breaks come so often as to be disruptive to the flow. This transition between narrators could have been more effectively cleared up with more uniquely defined narration boxes and colours.
Other Books Out This Month
