Progressive Ruin presents…the End of Civilization.
Here it is, the May 2018 Diamond Previews, now in the convenient four-booklet format (not counting the separate Customer Order Form), now that DC Previews is its own book now! Look forward to the near future, when Dark Horse and IDW and Dynamite and every one each gets their own individually-bound catalog, all wrapped up inside an otherwise empty Previews wraparound folder! The future is coming, and it’s unnecessarily convoluted, just how you like it! Follow along in your own copy, best as you can, as I try to keep the page numbers straight on the following items:
p. 91 – The Walking Dead 15th Anniversary Pin:
Celebrating the 15th anniversary of the comic book based on the TV show!
p. 103 – Xerxes: The Fall of the House of Darius and the Rise of Alexander #4:
This prequel to the Lawnmower Man movie is getting pretty freaky.
p. 124 – Mystery Science Theater 3000 Coasters:
No joke here…just hoping for as much Mystery Science Theater 3000 merchandise as Dark Horse can produce. Maybe someday I’ll get that throwpillow I always wanted based on the alien that eats Crow in this clip:
p. 180 – Elvira Mistress of the Dark #1:
“I can think of two great reasons to buy this co–”
“Mike.”
“What?”
“You can’t keep going to the ‘Elvira’s breasts’ joke well every single time. It’s hacky.”
“SIR. I will have you know the two things I was talking about were ‘art’ and ‘story,’ THANK YOU VERY MUCH.”
“Mm hmm.”
“…Okay, and breasts, fine.”
p. 260 – Trump Trading Cards Uncut Sheet:
There better not be any jokes on these…that would be inappropriate and cruel!
p. 309 – Marvel Studios 101 All Your Questions Answered HC:
GUY BEING FUNNY: “Oh, all my questions, huh? Okay, what is the meaning of life? Where do babies come from? Magnets, how do they work? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? HAR HAR.”
MARVEL STUDIOS, BEING FUNNIER: “I am Groot! I am Groot. I am Groot. I am Groot!”
p. 320 – The Adventure Zone Volume 1 Here There Be Gerblins GN:
And now…CUTTING EDGE MEME HUMOR:
My apologies to everybody.
p. 398 – Tank Girl Coloring Book:
Hey man, I was coloring in Tank Girl in old Deadline magazines before it was cool.
p. 450 – Urotsukidoji Legend of the Overfiend:
Hey, kids…tentacles!
p. M22 – Marvel Movie Gallery Black Panther Version 2 PVC Diorama:
Glad to see Black Panther finally achieving his full potential by becoming the new Ghost Rider.
p. M53 – Pop! Directors Guillermo Del Toro Vinyl Figure:
Better bust out your Elder Things Pops and act out your own At The Mountains of Madness with your del Toro figure because that’s probably the only way it’s happening.
p. M53 – Coming to America Vinyl Figures:
Looking forward to the Art Buchwald Pop!
p. M60 – Pop! Smallville Vinyl Figures:
…but not holding my breath for the Chloe Sullivan Pop.
DC Previews p. 45 – Scooby-Doo Team-Up #40:
“I think you’ll find that ARCANE is the real culprit!” [Fred pulls giant yellow insect out of Matt Cable’s mouth]
Marvel Previews p. 6 – Amazing Spider-Man #1:
Get in on the ground floor of history with the first new Amazing Spider-Man #1 since…well, a couple of years back! Guaranteed to be a collectors item until the next Amazing Spider-Man #1 comes out!”
Marvel Previews p. 15 – Cosmic Ghost Rider #1:
Oh please please please let this be the next Nicholas Cage superhero movie.
Marvel Previews p. 20 – Death of the Inhumans #1:
In case the TV show wasn’t clue enough.
Marvel Previews p 125 .- Brute Force TPB:
Including the Power Pachyderms one-shot, in case Brute Force by itself hadn’t upped the ante enough in the “most unlikely comic to get into a trade paperback in the Year of Our Lord 2018” contest.
No lie, Cosmic Ghost Rider is my favourite character from the recent Thanos series. I honestly thought Thanos would be my favourite (I love a good Thanos), but Frank Castle as the Ghost Rider, as the Herald of Galactus? I’m so in.
Okay, I know that these Pop! figures have their template…
…but if you’re making Guillermo del Toro’s head the biggest part of his body, you’re not convincing me that you’ve ever actually seen the man.
Also: I know that there have been a lot of Marvel Studios movies, but I did not realize it had been around for 101 years. Odd that they are celebrating this year, and not the centennial last year.
AS#1 Thrill as they make Peter retrocactively into a high school skin head.
Brute Force? Really?! I thought Spitfire and the Troubleshooters would get a trade before Brute Force.
I am out of the loop these days, so I have to ask: Is Electro a woman now?
:::gasp::: It’s Old Man Arcane! He’s the one who’s been haunting the swamp! Jinkies!
p. M60 – Pop! Smallville Vinyl Figures:
—–
Making this image the heart of the Smallville premiere marketing campaign in the waek of the Matthew Shepard murder was really bad and clueless (at best) at the time. This figure seems to trivialize it so, so much more. Ugh.
Somehow I missed Brute Force the first time, but clearly the reason this is coming out is to ready for the public as this is the direction Marvel Studios is going for the next 10 years.
“I am out of the loop these days, so I have to ask: Is Electro a woman now?”
Yes, she is. I believe she was a onetime girlfriend of the original Electro and got her powers from the Jackal. I think I might remember that she killed her ex-boyfriend during the Clone Conspiracy event?
MARVEL: Brute Force! It’s WE3 done right!
Yes I know, I know.
I have been around long enough to remember when the distributor packets WERE just an envelope from Diamond and Capital Cities (those are the ones the shop I worked at used) filled with individual fliers and such from the various publishers.
The positives were that it was VERY easy to see which publishers were professional enough to make it versus the ones who would disappear soon, possibly even without publishing the issues they were soliciting.
The negatives were that there was no alphabetical order or consistency. The order form was alphabetical, but you had to dig through the pile to find the flyer from that particular publisher to order correctly (which generally meant – ignore most of them).
The catalogs from the big distributors were a good solution to a chaotic ordering reality, forever mucked around (as with so many things in comics distribution were) by the Heroes World and thus Diamond Select publishers changing the way the catalog was presented.