We’ve got a lot coming at you this week here at GP with lots of reviews, previews, and so much more. We’re kicking off the day with our roundup of what you might have missed this weekend!
The Beat – RIP David Anthony Kraft – Our thoughts are with his friends, family, and fans.
Reviews
Collected Editions – Batman: The Movies
The Verge – Home Sick Pilots
Monkeys Fighting Robots – Red Room #1
CBR – Sleeping Beauties Vol. 1
The Old James House has lost its ghosts. With her new powers, it’s up to Ami to bring them back…whether they want to come home or not. Even when they’re really big ghosts wrapped in metal, with lots of sharp edges and things. Home Sick Pilots #2 continues the intriguing horror series giving us a better idea as to what to expect going forward.
Picking up where the debut issue left off, Ami attempts to retrieve a lucky horseshoe in Home Sick Pilots #2. The horseshoe seems to have an agenda of its own not wanting to return to the house. The issue delivers a tragic tale of someone who has experienced nothing but good from the haunted horseshoe. What will her life be without it and does she want to return to that existence? Writer Dan Watters delivers a story that feels almost like a parable mixed with a little ghostbusting.
The issue hints a bit more as to what we can expect with the series. Its focus isn’t a missing Ami, presumably killed by the house. Instead, the house is using her to gather these items and ghosts, we assume. It’s a house with a mission and something on its mind apparently as it’s also not being clear with Ami as to what it’s done and what it wants.
The artwork by Caspar Wijngaard and letterer Aditya Bidikar continues to impress. The art delivers an intriguing visually intertwined narrative of Ami and her friends. We get the story around the Old James House which doesn’t seem as much of a horror story but that’s juxtaposed by the blood covering her friends as they attempt to figure out what to do. We also get a look at the ghost Ami captures in multiple ways and each is a fascinating design well worth examining.
Home Sick Pilots #2 moves the story along as well as delivering the backstory of Ami and her friends. It’s a solid horror story that feels like some classics in the genre. It’s not completely clear what’s going on but what has been presented is surely interesting and well worth checking out.
Story: Dan Watters Art: Caspar Wijngaard
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar Designer: Tom Muller
Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy
Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – Zeus Comics
Wednesdays (and now Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in
Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.
American Vampire 1976 #4 (DC Comics/DC Black Label) – The series has been a lot of fun so far. Though it leans a bit towards those who have previously read the series, new readers should be able to enjoy it for the great action.
Ascencia #1 (Wake Entertainment) – The drummer of System of a Down brings his talents to comics in a story about what one would do to become immortal.
The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History (Ten Speed Press) – The retelling of the group and its key figures
DC Future State (DC Comics) – DC Future State has been a pretty solid event so far. There’s only been a few clunkers but overall, it’s been a pretty solid “gimmick”. This week’s releases include Future State: Dark Detective #1, Future State: Green Lantern #1, Future State: Justice League #1, Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman #1, Future State: Robin Eternal #1, Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman #1, Future State: Teen Titans #1.
HaHa #1 (Image Comics) – The new miniseries features a rotating group of artists joining W. Maxwell Prince to explore the world of clowns.
Home Sick Pilots #2 (Image Comics) – The debut issue was a creepy start of a haunted house story. We’re still not 100% sure of what’s going on but we really want to find out.
League of Super Feminists (Drawn & Quarterly) – A graphic novel guide to some of the central tenets of feminism.
Manns World #1 (AWA Studios) – A tale of survival when four individuals on a resort anger the planet’s working class. Could be very interesting.
Serial #1 (Abstract Studios) – A young girl has been stuck being 10 for 50 years due to the demon inside. Now the demon is free and killing and Zoe must stop it.
Soulstream #1 (Scout Comics) – Marie and Markus discover an alternate dimension known as the Mirror World where their entire city has been destroyed and replaced by a volcanic wasteland.
Space Bastards #1 (Humanoids) – An unemployed accountant joins the Intergalactic Postal Service. Delivery is mercenary where payment goes to whoever delivers the package.
The amazing Rebecca Hart joins Logan, Brian, and Darci to chat about the first volume of the queer, British YA comic Breaks by Malin Ryden and Emma Vieceli. They also break down the latest indie comics (or comics adjacent) news like Umbrella Academy‘s Elliot Page coming out, a new Witchblade creative team, and David Lee Roth‘s foray into the world of graphic novels (And VR?) Other comics mentioned on the show, include Porcelain, Legend of Zelda by Hand Drawn Games, Gunnerkrigg Court, Grind Like A Girl, Ind-Xed, Home Sick Pilots, Stillwater, and Gorillaz Almanac. (Episode art by Emma Vieceli)
I was not expecting that. That’s the main thought after reading Home Sick Pilots #1 an interesting ghost/horror debut. The first issue delivers some twists and turns and does it with a certain flair and style. It’s one of the more intriguing starts of the year.
Written by Dan Watters, Home Sick Pilots #1 centers around a punk band and its lead singer Ami and a haunted house. It’s 1984 and in its opening, a house strides across the suburban landscape like a wooden kaiju delivering restorative destruction. At its center is a woman who seems to be controling the constructed behemoth. It’s an unexpected start to the series teasing the reader with what’s to come and then delivering the steps of how we get there.
There’s a certain sense of style and cool about the world Watters has put together. The issue revolves around punk bands and their outsider status, a plot point that works and enhances the story. Like the house at the center of the story, the kids in these bands are broken a bit and rejected by society. The house and each character have much in common in how they’re perceived by society. They’re present and neither knows what to do with them.
Caspar Wijngaard‘s art brings a haunting eeriness to the series. Along with lettering from Aditya Bidikar, Home Sick Pilots #1 delivers a calm before its shocking moments drop. That calm helps to enhance and emphasize the crazy which is a literal house of horrors. Characters are murdered with almost glee widdling them down to a few to care about. It’s unexpected twists as to this point Watters’ story and dialogue had set up an interesting rivalry between groups making for an entertaining team-up. But, the house has a different direction to take it.
Home Sick Pilots #1 is a solid debut setting things up before pulling the rug out from under the reader. It takes us into a haunted house and delivers bodies without taking things over the top and making it about the gore. It focuses on the mystery of it all and like its victims, catches the reader off-guard. In what was expected to span out over a few issues, the body count is quick and swift hooking the reader and getting their attention. For those into horror and mystery, this is a debut to check out.
Story: Dan Watters Art: Caspar Wijngaard
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar Design: Tom Muller
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy
Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – Zeus Comics
Wednesdays (and now Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in!
Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.
American Vampire 1976 #3 (DC Comics/DC Black Label) – A great return to this series so far that brings the action with each issue.
Batman: Black & White #1 (DC Comics) – A new anthology series from some top talent all giving their spin on the world of Batman.
Byte-Sized #1 (AWA Studios) – Horror comes to the holidays in this new series from writer Cullen Bunn!
Comic Book History of Animation #1 (IDW Publishing) – A new series focusing on the filmmakers and beloved characters of the past century and a half.
Crossover #2 (Image Comics) – The first issue was a lot of fun as the world of comics bled over into the real world causing all sorts of comics. The first issue felt like a love letter to comics and we’re excited to see where it all goes.
Heroes at Home #1 (Marvel) – We’ve been locked up due to COVID for much of the year so how are Marvel’s heroes dealing with it?
Home Sick Pilots #1 (Image Comics) – A brand new horror series that we’re excited to check out.
Legacy of Mandrake the Magician #3 (Red 5 Comics) – A great update to the classic character that has us excited for every issue. A solid series so far.
Mighty Morphin #2 (BOOM! Studios) – The first issue was such a solid re-introduction to the property with a direction that’s great for new and old readers. What’s next? We want to see!
King in Black: Namor #1 and Venom #31 (Marvel) – The opening issue of King in Black was solid and exceeded our expectations. These are the next two tie-ins and we really want to see where this goes from here and if the quality continues.
Locke & Key/Sandman: Hell & Gone #0 (IDW Publishing) – If you think you can unlock the gates of Hell and just invite yourself in, you must be Dreaming! The Sandman Universe crossover begins here. We’re… intrigued.
Lords of Misery (Albatross Funnybooks) – This standalone story reveals the adventure the Goon, along with several other mysterious figures, found himself entangled in after he departed the Nameless Town.
Scarenthood #2 (IDW Publishing) – The first issue took us by surprise and got us to laugh and gave some good scares too. A definite under-the-radar series that fans of horror should check out.
SWORD #1 (Marvel) – The Mutant nation of Krakoa has dominated Earth and now they’re taking their mission to space with the newly reformed SWORD.
Warhammer 40K: Marneus Calgar #3 (Marvel) – The last issue caught us off guard so we’re excited to see what else this series will throw at fans of Warhammer 40K.
Image Comics has revealed an electric new video trailer to get fans excited about the upcoming new series launch Home Sick Pilots by Dan Watters and Caspar Wijngaard.
This highly anticipated upcoming horror series is best described as The Haunting of Hill House meets Paper Girls and promises a fresh, day-glo drenched story of terror for readers this December.
In the summer of 1994, a haunted house walks across California. Inside is Ami, lead singer of a high school punk band—who’s been missing for weeks. How did she get there, and what do these ghosts want? Expect three-chord songs and big bloody action in the forthcoming Home Sick Pilots.
Home Sick Pilots #1 (Diamond Code OCT200017) will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, December 9.
Bestselling writer Dan Watters reteams with fan-favorite artist Caspar Wijngaard for an ongoing series in Home Sick Pilots. The new ongoing horror comic will launch from Image Comics this December.
Watters and Wijngaard debuted at Image with their critically acclaimed, day-glo drenched miniseries Limbo back in 2015, and return to the publisher for a fresh, new, neon thriller.
In Home Sick Pilots, in the summer of 1994, a haunted house walks across California. Inside is Ami, lead singer of a high school punk band—who’s been missing for weeks. How did she get there, and what do these ghosts want? Expect three-chord songs and big bloody action that’s Power Rangers meets The Shining (yes, really).
Home Sick Pilots #1 (Diamond Code OCT200017) will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, December 9.
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