From: [dor 1] at [quads.uchicago.edu] (thad a doria)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.info
Subject: PREVIEWS-O-RAMA I. Acclaim-Dark Horse for March 1996 (spoilers)
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 96 22:41:16 GMT

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P R E V I E W S - O - R A M A.  I. Acclaim--Dark Horse
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now archived! gopher://nspace.cts.com, directory
ftp/pub/Comics/New Comics/Previews-O-Rama
also reachable at
http://nspace.cts.com/html/Comics/Comics.html
Thanx to Jerry at Negative Space!
<note new addresses>
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Plugs, pans, and miscellaneous career tracking for comics
shipping March 1996!
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Spoilers for one and all!
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Everything contained herein is IMO. Duh, 'cuz I wrote it.

CLIP AND SAVE!

Opening volleys: The Lee/Liefeld/Marvel deal is reported
officially. A double page spread from DC's Kingdom Come
(Waid & A. Ross) is reproduced (Recognizable figures:
Superman, Wonder Woman, Ray, Adam Strange, Green Arrow,
Green Lantern, Red Tornado, Hawkman, Power Girl, Dr.
Mid-Night, Hourman, Wonder Girl, maybe Dr. Fate and The
Human Bomb, plus others. These may or may not be the
same heroes we are familiar with).

In addition to closing warehouses, Diamond has let go a few
proofreaders: the cover blurb mentions "The Amalgan Universe."

Marvel vs. DC:Amalgam. Much of this has been reported
elsewhere (several times), but I'll run it down one
last time:
DC/Amalgam:
Legends of the Dark Claw (Hama & Balent). Adamantium-clawed
creature of the night stalks Gotham City, haunted by a tragic
past and in pursuit of the madman known as The Hyena. His
only allies are his perky teen sidekick Jubilee and the mys-
terious Huntress.

Super-Soldier (Waid & Gibbons). 98-lb. weakling Clark Kent
received an infusion of alien DNA and became the greatest
hero of WWII. Now revived from a decades-long slumber, he
faces UltraMetallo as the Green Skull's agents of Hydra
wait in the wings.

Amazon (Byrne & Byrne/Austin). Raised on the hidden island
of Themiscyra, weather-witch Ororo Monroe uses her mutant
powers to bring peace to Man's World.

JLX (Waid/G. Jones & Porter). Mr.X (wow, Motter let his copy-
right run out?), Apollo, Firebird, Nightcreeper, Wraith, Mer-
cury, Runaway, and Mariner. Outlaw heroes hated by a world
they're sworn to protect. The Avenging JLA (including Dark
Claw, Super-Soldier, Captain Marvel, Angelhawk) are on their
trail, looking to bring them to justice.

Assassins (Chichester & McDaniel). Dare and Catsai--the femmes
fatale of Amalgam, form an uneasy alliance to protect the mayor
of New Gotham City from an army of super-killers.

Doctor Strangefate (Marz & Garcia-Lopez). The Supreme Lord of
Order will do whatever it takes to ensure the survival of this
joined universe--even killing a young hero (Access) who holds
the key to splitting it apart.

Marvel/Amalgam:
Bruce Wayne, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Dixon & Nord). Driven by
the murder of his parents, multizillionaire Wayne forms a
global paramilitary stike force--the only thing standing be-
tween the Green Skull and world domination.

Spider-Boy (K. Kesel & 'Ringo). World-famous web-slinging
teen clone fights Bizzarnage and King Lizard. Guest starring
Guardian Angel, Insect Queen, and the Challengers of the Fan-
tastic.

Bullets & Bracelets (Ostrander & Frank). Meet grim vigilante
Trevor Castle and Diana, renegade princess of Themiscyra. A
lifetime ago, an unlikely night of romance produced a child--
a boy now in the clutches of Thanoseid and Jim "Monarch"
Rhodes. Can our unhappy couple bury the hatchet long enough
to save their son?

Speed Demon (Mackie & Larocca). Blaze Allen runs through the
night, possessed by Etrigan, Spirit of Vengeance! With his
young nephew Wally West, he is hell-bent on driving Green
Goblin and the Night Spectre out of the Nether Realm.

Magneto and the Metal Men (Waid/G. Jones & Matsuda). Dr. Will
Magnus's hatred of freaks has fueled the creation of the
Sentinels--giant robots who slaughtered his brother Erik's
Brotherhood of Mutants. Erik instills their essences into
brother Will's prototype Metal Men robots, and as Magneto he
will lead them into battle against the ultimate Sentinel:
Sinistron!

X-Patrol (2 Kesels & R. Cruz). Red-bearded cyborg Niles Cable
unites 5 freakish strangers (Ferro-Man, Elasti-Girl, Beastling,
Shatterstarfire, and Dial H.U.S.K.) to stop Dr. Doomsday's
fiendish plans.

Amalgam trading cards from SkyFleerBox ship that same week.

Previews has reorganized and is no longer alphabetical. The
comics sections are Premier (big money like DC, Image, Dark
Horse, and Acclaim), Essential (perennials like A-V, Archie,
Caliber, Fantagraphics, Maximum, Slave Labor, Topps, etc.),
and Select (all the small indies and self publishers: Aria,
Black Eye, Claypool, D&Q, NBM, Rip-Off, and stuff like THB,
Bacchus, and Stray Bullets. This is Diamond's equivalent of
telling them to sit to the back of the bus and drink out of
the "other" water fountain). P-O-Rama is still alphabetical,
thank you very much.
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HUNH! Break it down now!
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ACCLAIM:
========
-Valiant-
PunX (Giffen) is back in a 4-issue mini. Quoth Giffen: "The damn
book didn't sell the first time around,so the guys at Acclaim
don't carewhat or who I screw with next. Jurgens, your backside
is mine!"

-Magic: The Gathering-
Urza-Mishra War #1 of 2 (Prosser & Sienkiewicz). Further stories
from the Antiquities expansion. Includes an exclusive Ice Age II
(whatever that is) card with art by Sienkiewicz.

ADHESIVE:
=========
Too Much Coffee Man #5 and the TMCM #1-4 pack (S. Wheeler).

ARIA:
=====
Visions of A Distant Soil (various). ADS pin-up book features
Simonson, Garcia-Lopez, Lapham, Foglio, Valentino, Robbins,
Kaluta, Sim & Gerhard, Marder, Swan, and Nick Cardy.

BONGO:
======
Reiner "McBain" Wolfcastle, chairman of the President's Council
on Physical Fitness, is sent to Springfield, the Unhealthiest
Place on Earth(tm).

BROADWAY (emphasis on "Broad! Whoa nellie!):
============================================
Let's just say Jim Shooter is very very desperate for sales,
and leave it at that, ok?

CALIBER:
========
Caliber will publish new and reprinted comics by Mike Deodato
done for Brazilian audiences. They begin with Ramthar #1.

Big Bang Is Moving sale pack (Carlson & various). Big Bang #0-4
in a package deal. Last chance to get these golden/silver/chromi-
um age pastiches. Later this year the Big Bang Universe moves
to Erik Larsen's corner of Image.

Chris Moeller's Shadow Empires (formerly at Dark Horse) has a
new home in Negative Burn, starting with #33.

COMICO:
=======
Comico swears cross their heats and hope to file for chapter 11
that they won't ship late anymore.

COMIC BOOK LEGAL DEFENSE FUND:
==============================
"Save Smut!" T-shirt. Starring Smut, the cute li'l imp created
by Neil Gaiman and Greg Capullo in the pages of Angela. Smut
is now a trademark and official mascot of CBLDF.

DANCING ELEPHANT PRESS:
=======================
Kane: Greetings from Eden tpb (Grist). Paul Grist's hard-boiled
detective drama, from issues #1-4 of the impossible-to-convince-
your-retailer-that-yes-you-and-maybe-a-few-other-people-will-
actually-pay-money-for comic series.

DARK HORSE:
===========
Bettie Page Comics one-shot (Various). Bettie. You need more
details? Stuff by Dave Stevens, Russ Heath, Bret Blevins, Jaime
Hernandez, and more.

DHP #107 (various). Mike Mignola and Steve (Sam&Max) Purcell
join forces in a new strip, "Rusty Razorclam, President of
Neptune!" Add to that Rick Geary, Renee French, and Jack
Pollock's "Devil Chef" and you've got a ton of laffs.

Barb Wire: The Movie (S. Byam & G. Purcell). Adaptation of the
Pamela Anderson vehicle.

Dominion: Conflict 1, No MOre NOise #1 of 6 (Shirow). An all-new
Dominion romp.

Concrete: Think Like a Mountain #1 of 6 (Chadwick). Concrete is
recruited by eco-guerillas in the Pacific Northwest. But whose
side is he really on? Story also features a "Sky of Heads" piece.

Re-issued graphic novels:
Signal to Noise (Gaiman & McKean). A critically ill film director
plots his final project: a movie about the end of the world.
The Black Dragon (Claremont & Bolton). A tale of medieval terror
published by Epic in the 80's.

--
Thad Doria    "Wsssshhhhhhhhhhhht. Goldusssssst!"
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"Wow, she's saying some pretty profound stuff...I bet she's
read The Hobbit."  --Jezebel, The Mysterious One