Panel Patter: The Newsletter # 9 Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting Edition
Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday Night's Alright
Welcome to the ninth edition of Panel Patter: The Newsletter.
4 more issues, and Marvel will reboot us!
Recent Patterings
Review - The Devil's Red Bride by Sebastian Girner and John Bivens
Neil is our go to knowledge source and resident aficionado for all things Japanese, especially anything that even hints at Samurai culture or Edo period. He was especially excited to jump into this new release coming out this Wednesday from Vault.
Set during what I believe is the Sengoku period, also known by the Age of Warring States, The Devil’s Red Bride showcases this time with references to samurai warlords and clans fighting for control over Japan. This alone gives the reader an understanding that it was a turbulent time to be alive.
Panel Patter Tober 2020: Week 1 Recap
We decided to jump on the -tober bandwagon with a set of illustrations starting every new comic book day based on our Catch-It picks of the week. Contributing editor and social media mogul, Sean, spearheaded this art initiative, and we’re all having a blast doing it.
Oh, and Allred totally retweeted us.
Review - We Only Find Them When They're Dead by Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo
Reviewing a first issue can be a difficult endeavor. Frankly, sometimes, it can be a crap shoot. A first issue a hard thing to pull off. Some classic series have taken a few issues (if not arcs) to really get going, and some other series have petered out after a stunning debut. James took the patient route for Al Ewing and Simone DiMeo’s We Only Find Them When They’re Dead, and this week reviewed both the first and second issue of the new BOOM! series. Spoiler alert: it’s pretty good.
WOFTWTD is many things, but it is first and foremost a stunning work of art thanks to the gorgeous work of Simone Di Meo. I wasn’t familiar with Di Meo’s work prior to this series, but I’ve seen enough to say that I'll probably pick up most anything Di Meo does, regardless of the prject. He’s that good.
Catch It at the Comic Shop October 7th, 2020
For all the weekend warriors out there, check out our picks of the week ranging all the way from indie books to the Big 2.
From the Archives
Halloween Horror: Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
Scott takes a look at this instant Raina classic, reminding us that good horror need not be bloody or gory.
The titular ghosts of this book give it a sense of life even as you’re dreading the worst possible events as you’re reading it. Even if the move was intended to help Maya, she gets progressively worse and sicker in this new town. It feels like the move was too late to save the young girl and that feeling just grows with each panel and page. For all of the normal teenage drama that fills this book, Telgemeier’s reminders of our mortality create an uneasiness in this book.
Store Profile - Michigan’s Vault of Midnight
Vault of Midnight - Comic Books and Stuff (great name!) operates three Michigan locations - their flagship Ann Arbor store, their Grand Rapids shop, and a new location in downtown Detroit. Vault of Midnight is known for its diverse selection of comics of all varieties in addition to deep racks of board and tabletop games and ephemera. The shop works with local schools, libraries, and universities to help develop graphic novel collections. Every good store has come up with creative responses to Covid-19, and VoM has shown particular love for their customers by scheduling special hours for their high-risk patrons. In addition to providing comic and gaming goodness to Michigan, the store also produces the Super Skull Show weekly podcast. Vault of Midnight is the type of store committed to all fans and to a diversity of voices within the medium.
Spotlight - The Boys with the Noise. (White Noise, that is).
The collective known as White Noise - Alex Paknadel, Dan Waters, Ram V, and Ryan O’Sullivan - first came to many of our collective attentions with their series of Vault releases between 2018 and 2019. All were critical smashes, and we saw the boys take their skills to DC, Marvel, Valiant, and Image. But they’re gearing up for a Vault return. This week, Vault announced it will be shipping 38,000 copies of Paknadel’s latest, Giga - by our counts, Vault’s biggest series yet. We’ve been fans of Vault since the early days of Heathen and Spiritus, so we’re stoked for this number for both the publisher and Paknadel (as well as his Giga team). Mike will be jumping into Giga closer to the publication date. So stay tuned. In the mean time, tune in to the Patter this week for James’ essay about three L.A. Stories - The New World, Crowded, and Paknadel’s Friendo.
Ryan O’Sullivan teased his return to the world of Henry Henry and Fearscape a while back. This week, things became official with preview copies circulating and the announcement of an official publication date. You may have noticed some huge names have been jumping into to praise A Dark Interlude, including Kieron Gillen, James Tynion, and Paul Cornell. We have been fans of Fearscape from day one. Neil praised the first issue on Comics Horizon (DYECB), James profiled the first issue as part of our Vault Week initiative, and Mike called it the best series of 2018. A Dark Interlude is a kinda-sorta sequel, and we can say from reading the preview issue that is a welcomed return to everyone’s favorite hated fallible narrator, Henry Henry. O’Sullivan and Mutti remind us why the scenery chewing world of Fearscape is so rich while bring so wry. This series should definitely be on your radar.
After he made his Vault debut with Deep Roots, a series James contends handled the same plot elements better than Marvel’s Empyre, Dan Watters joined the Sandman Universe to write the excellent Lucifer series and started his critically acclaimed creator-owned Image series, Coffin Bound. This past week, Watters, Dani, and Simpson released a special double-sized issue of Coffin Bound that pushed the boundaries of what comics can do. While Watters hasn’t formally started promoting his newest Vault series, nerds like us were able to find Picture of Everything Else in some upcoming solicits. Watters will be pairing with Kishore Mohan for a series that explores the artist who painted the infamous Picture of Dorian Gray.
So we have new Vault books on the horizon from 75% of the White Noise, leaving us to speculate about what Ram V will be bringing, likely in the early new year based on the progression from Giga to A Dark Interlude to Picture of Everything Else. Ram V has had a great year. These Savage Shores seems to be gathering new fans, deservedly so, and his work with DC on books like Justice League Dark, Catwoman, and this week’s Legend of the Swamp Thing: Halloween Special have shown that he can inject new ideas into superhero properties. Ahead of whatever he does at Vault is his follow-up of sorts to Grafity’s Wall, Blue in Green, with collaborators Anand RK and Aditya Bidikar. Whatever comes from Ram at Vault will likely be another highly anticipated release.
Micro Review - Legend of the Swamp Thing: Halloween Special
Speaking of Ram V, he headlined this week’s Swamp Thing special, helping to both curate the stories and provide a frame narrative for the entire project. If there is a case for an ongoing Swamp Thing book, this special certainly is it. Ram set the stage with Swampy patrolling the Great Dismal swamp in Virginia, setting the stage for an exploration of various Avatars of the Green through the ages, including an especially strong tale from Vita Ayala and Emma Rios that imagined a Latin American Swamp Thing who is as much an element of folklore as anything else. Former Justice League Dark scribe and Ram V predecessor, James Tynion, paired with Ody-C and Invisible Kingdom artist Christian Ward for one of the more harrowing stories in the special, focusing on a set of conquistadors stranded on an island permeated by a version of Swamp Thing. Ward and Rios/Bellaire duel for the best looking story in this series. Each brought their own personal style to the stories, imbuing the tradition style of Swamp Thing with more color while pulling back just enough on the line style without abandoning the established tone for the Swamp Monster. That having been said, Mike Perkins, who pairs with Ram for both bookends of the story, certainly channels classic Bernie Wrightston Swamp Thing incredibly well, focusing on thick lines and multi-layered panels that perfectly connote the visible horror of the swamp.
Extra-Patterings
Have you been watching Lovecraft Country? It’s a real treat for fans of genre fiction. The Library Journal has a great Twitter Thread discussing both the show and Matt Ruff’s original novel. You can follow along with the hashtag #LovecraftFridays.
Sean and James are down with the Tynion/Simmonds collab, The Department of Truth.
Sean finished his read of The Dark Matter of Mona Starr and says the book is “off the charts good.” He also things Sebela is back on top with Dead Dudes, and has jumped into Undiscovered Country.
James got hooked on Tom Taylor and Danielle Di Nicuolo’s Seven Secrets with issue two.
Neil knew he would like Marvel’s The Rise of Ultraman, but that doesn’t undercut how much he enjoys it.
Mike and Beth bonded over their collective DC fandom.
Ahead this week on the Panel Patter dot com
James looks at three LA Stories and what they say about late-capitalism
Mike recalls his high school hardcore days with My Riot
We curate all that’s cool this week with our Catch It at the Comic Shop