It is hard to believe that there are only about six weeks left in 2022. (Compounding this is that the weather in the Northeastern U.S. has been unseasonably warm, making it feel more like early spring or fall than November!) But even as 2022 draws to a close, we still have plenty of good comics to read.
Our latest installment has a double dose of finales: Doctor Who: Origins and Rivers of London: Deadly Ever After to end 2022’s Titan’s PUBWATCH series for 2022. We’ll also take a look at the latest adventures of our favorite canary colored chaos demons, aka the Minions.
Since the next installment of this column will be in 2023, I will take my opportunity now to thank all our readers for joining us this year, and wish you all the best for the upcoming holidays and New Year. Here’s to 2023!
Titan Comics News and Announcements
November and December 2022 Release Schedule
Below is Titan’s current (as of this writing) release schedule for this month and the following month. Please note release dates are always subject to change.
November 2022
-
- Blade Runner Black Lotus #4: November 2nd
- Afro Samurai Vol. 1: November 4th
- Doctor Who: Origins: November 4th
- Snoopy Boxed Set: November 8th
- Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia Vol. 2 #2: November 9th
- Gun Honey Blood for Blood #3: November 9th
- Sea of Thieves: Origins Vol. 1: November 11th
- Cowboy Bebop: Supernova Swing Vol. 1: November 15th
- Sea of Thieves: Origins Vol. 1: November 11th
- The Night Eaters: She Eats The Night (Book 1): November 18th
- Kamen Rider Zero-One #1: November 23rd
- Bloodborne: Lady of the Lanterns #3: November 23rd
- Rivers of London: Deadly Ever After Vol. 10: November 25th
December 2022
-
- Michael Moorcock’s Elric #1-4 Boxed Set: December 6th
- Kamen Rider Kuuga Vol. 1: December 6th
- Lone Sloane Boxed Set: December 6th
- Blade Runner 2039 #1: December 7th
- ATOM: The Beginning Vol. 2: December 14th
- Afro Samurai Vol. 2: December 16th
- Tank Girl: King Tank Girl: December 20th
- Blade Runner 2029 #1-3 Boxed Set: December 20th
- Life is Strange #4-6 Boxed Set: December 20th
- Gun Honey Blood for Blood #3: December 21st
- Kamen Rider Zero-One #2: December 28th
Comics Coming Attractions From Titan Manga
As you can see from the list above, the end of the year is an active month for Titan Comics, including the debut of Titan Manga’s Afro Samurai. You can check out a trailer of the “director’s cut” edition of Volume 1, celebrating the 15th anniversary of its namesake anime, here. Afro Samurai Vol. 1 is available now in the UK, and will be available in the U.S. and Canada in December.
Another of Titan Manga’s titles debuting later this month is Kamen Rider Zero-One #1, available on November 23rd. The series continues the adventures of the TV show of the same name (which you can watch on Shout! Factory in the U.S.) – – and features a brand new villain created just for the series! You can see the new villian and much more in this trailer. We also have a preview of the art from the first issue of Kamen Rider Zero-One above, in advance of the issue’s debut on November 23rd.
Exclusive Preview: Blade Runner 2039
The newest Blade Runner comic series, Blade Runner 2039, debuts in December, and we have a first look at some of the interior art for the comic, provided by Andres Guinaldo. The new series, which will be the final chapter in the Blade Runner decades saga, sees Ash facing down a character from the Blade Runner 2049 film. And as we can see in the preview page above, it isn’t going to be easy.
Blade Runner 2039 #1 will be available digitally and at your local comic shop on December 7th.
Meet the New Conan the Barbarian Creative Teams
Earlier this year, Titan announced that they are the new home for Conan the Barbarian comics starting in May 2023. Now, we know the people who will create those new stories.
The new Conan the Barbarian ongoing series, coming in July 2023, will feature Uncanny Avengers writer Jim Zub on script. Roberto De La Torre, who is no stranger to Conan comics with his work on King-Size Conan, will feature on art. (You can also check out one of his sketches that was released with the announcement above.) Colors will be provided by Sweet Tooth colorist José Villarrubia.
With this announcement, Titan also confirmed that the omnibus line started at Marvel will continue at Titan starting next fall with Savage Sword of Conan Vol. 9.
Jumping From Screen to Page: Four New Video Game Series at Titan Comics
From Life is Strange to Horizon Zero Dawn, Titan has many successful comic adaptations of video games. And four new ones will debut next year.
The first of these, ENDLESS Space 2 Stories, will debut in February 2023. Based on the 2017 video game, ENDLESS Space 2 Stories collects comics previously only available digitally in print for the first time. The stories will follow the game’s factions and heroes in a power struggle across the galaxy, showing how the life of one person can have a significant impact on the world.
The following month (March 2023) will see the Astroneer game make its graphic novel debut with Astroneer: Countdown. This graphic novel, first in a series, focuses on Astroneer Seven and his trips in the Boreas System, along with his search for himself and a place to belong. This graphic novel also includes three backup short stories set in the Astroneer Universe. The creative team on this graphic novel includes Dave Pepose (Savage Avengers), Jeremy Lawson (Teen Titans Go!), and Eryk Donovan (Constantine: The Hellblazer).
Also out in March 2023 is a comic series based on the horror game Dead by Daylight. While Dead by Daylight has been featured in manga, this series at Titan will be the first comic book based on the video game. The comic, written by Nadia Shammas (Squire) and with art by Dillon Snook (Bluefall), will feature The Legion, a quartet of teenagers working their way through normal teenage life in the very troubled Dead by Daylight world.
Finally, Titan and game developer Jagex will partner to publish titles based on the RuneScape mobile video game series starting next year. The partnership will expand the world of RuneScape and Old School RuneScape to comics, graphic novels, prose fiction, and coloring books.
Watch this PUBWATCH column for more details on these four new initiatives.
Sherlock Goes Steampunk
Titan’s remixes of the Sherlock Holmes story go retro-futurist next year with the new steampunk series Moriarty: A Clockwork Empire. The series adds a steampunk flair to Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters such as the titular Mr. Holmes, his assistant John Watson, and the gothic Mr. Hyde. Holmes and Watson have a monster on their hands that just can’t seem to die.
The series debut, with covers by Lenka Simeckova, Andrea Olimpieri, and series artist Stevan Subric (seen above), comes to comics shops and digital retailers in February 2023.
What I’m Reading
Our last PUBWATCH of 2022 includes two finales: Doctor Who: Origins and Rivers of London: Deadly Ever After, along with some Minions fun with Minions Mini Boss Vol. 1.
(Note that our reviews may contain spoilers, so proceed carefully!)
Minions: Mini Boss Vol. 1
Renaud Collin (artist), Stephane Lapuss (writer)
October 11, 2022
Oh, those Minions. (Or Les Minions, as I learned on a trip to France this spring.) Canary-colored chaos returns in this volume collecting the two Minions: Mini Boss issues from earlier this spring. For these adventures, they’re joined by a young Gru. And together, this team tackles everything from school to the dentist to sports to nightmares. It’s never a dull moment with the Minions, solving problems in their very unique and unorthodox ways, and never without just a little bit of disaster.
This creative team has been together on six Minions volumes now. And they show that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. These are creators comfortable with their characters, particularly in a medium where there is hardly any dialogue. It’s no easy feat to tell a complete story across a page (or two) with only pictures, but these two know how to work together to get it done. Adding in a new character could disrupt this previously perfected mix, but Gru fits in to the Minions’ world seamlessly, providing a consistent straight foil throughout.
And the secret to that success of a story with only pictures? Simple, colorful, bright art. Renaud Collin doesn’t fill his pages with excessive detail, but also doesn’t strip it down to bare parts to tell a story. It’s a delicate balance that he pulls off very well. That balance also allows colors to shine at their brightest, adding a light, playful tone (literally and figuratively) throughout.
The Minions series surprised me with how delightful they were, and I cannot wait for more of their adventures.
Doctor Who: Origins #4
Comicraft’s Jimmy Betancourt (letterer), Jody Houser (writer), Roberta Ingranata (artist), Warnia K. Sahadewa (colorist), Richard Starkings (letterer)
August 31, 2022
The Fugitive Doctor’s allies have done her dirty. Her mission from The Division and the High Council turned out to serve malicious ends of genocide and racism. And her young inexperienced partner turned out to be very experienced in the world of political deceit, being used as a pawn in the High Council’s larger game. But of course, the Doctor gets the last laugh, turning the tables on the High Council with the ever popular well placed recording device to capture a confession for all to hear.
The ending to the main plot of the Doctor’s mission is nothing out of the ordinary. And maybe with that in mind, we can’t consider it the “main” plot anymore. That main plot is the relationship between the Doctor and Taslo. And Taslo’s awakening to her own agency propels this issue to a final and emotional climax. Realizing that the Doctor taught her the importance of keeping true to her morals, Taslo sends the Doctor coordinates to prevent the genocide that the High Council planned from their work. It doesn’t keep Taslo out of prison, but it allows her to forgive herself. That’s beautiful character development that lesser writers may not be able to achieve in four issues, but Jody Houser does it beautifully, thanks to her experience, knowledge, and love of the Doctor Who universe.
Our artists had the opportunity to amplify the dark turn this story took with their artwork. But rather than bathe scenes and characters in bland, grey tones, they took the opposite route. The art is simple and effective linework complemented by bright colors. And it adds a thread of hope throughout: hope for Taslo, hope for all the worlds they visited together, hope for the Doctor. It doesn’t undermine the script, rather, it adds nuance to it.
We end the Fugitive Doctor’s story with a stolen TARDIS, just as Doctor Who itself began nearly sixty years ago. While the franchise excitement will be on the screen in the next year with a new/old Doctor and anniversary celebrations, I hope to return to more of her comic stories soon.
Rivers of London: Deadly Ever After #4
Ben Aaronovitch (creator), Jose Maria Beroy (penciler), Celeste Bronfman (writer), David Cabeza (inker), Jim Campbell (letterer), Andrew Cartmel (script editor), Jordi Escuin Llorach (colorist)
August 10, 2022
Chelsea and Olympia are sisters joined at the hip (metaphorically speaking) since birth. Their adventures in the fractured fairy tale world are the first time they aren’t working together. When Chelsea finds herself in a spot of aquatic trouble, Olympia turns to Bev for help. And Bev grants this help, but leaves Olympia out of the plan: things are too big for Olympia to handle. And that’s something Olympia doesn’t agree with, taking matters into her own hands.
Like all good fairytales, there’s an end where the good side wins and the villains lose. There’s a happily ever after, and lessons learned. For Chelsea and Olympia, that lesson is one of sisterly love, and that love makes you do reckless and dangerous things. Olympia’s plan to use Phoebe as bait for her demonic great-grandfather does end up working for them, but not without great risk to Phoebe (and Olympia too). The sisterly bonds do grow, but Bev is here to also teach them that they still have some things to learn about the world of magic. It’s a nice opening to future stories with the sisters, which I hope address my previous concerns about further character development.
Of this series’ four issues, this one was the most action packed. And that action is executed rather well, if rather muted when it comes to the magic. Compared to other Rivers of London stories, the magic isn’t as bombastic. And that goes back to my comments from the last issue about the lack of creative risk in this series. Here it’s artistic risk. There are opportunities for our art team to let loose in this climactic battle. And what we see is quite restrained. Could this be a deliberate choice to ensure the larger themes don’t end up lost? Perhaps. But this is a finale with a climax to the story, and that climax needs a spark.
Rivers of London: Deadly Ever After makes for a fine introduction to Chelsea and Olympia. While it’s far from a perfect introduction, but there’s room for growth if there are further adventures.
