Down the Line is our monthly look at Previews, and what titles are coming out a few months, well, “down the line.”

This installment covers the March Previews for comics due to ship out in May 2007. Remember, especially with the indy books, that pre-ordering is your friend, and the best way to make sure you get the books you want. I should mention, thanks to the increasing prevalence of advance solicitation, that several of the books here won’t actually ship until June or later, but the preorders are still due by the end of March.

By the way, I’m a little late this month thanks to running a comics store being a lot of work, as it turns out, so you’ve got a little over a week to get your orders to your retailers. Sorry about that.

As always, the Previews rundown is in alphabetical order, rather than the order used in the catalog. To facilitate those seeking more information, each entry will include the page number of the solicitation. I’m going to offer up my “Top Ten Shiny New Things to Watch Out For,” which is in a 1-10 order of what I’m most looking forward to (the first item is my “pick of the month,” as it were.) Then I’ll provide a rundown of “Other Stuff That Caught My Eye.” My focus in this column is always going to be on jumping-on points and new stuff, so if you’re wondering “Where’s Jack of Fables?” or something along those lines, I still love it, I just don’t want to keep harping on it. I’m also going to do my best to provide links to art and other preview material, or at the very least official websites, so you can track down more information.

Top Ten Shiny Things To Watch Out For:

Criminal Vol. 1: Coward (Marvel Comics) - Starting off strong and never losing a step, Criminal is one of the best books on the market. Now’s the chance for trade-waiters and those who just missed out in the first place to take a look, as Brubaker and Phillips serve up the collected edition of one of the best crime stories in comics in the last decade. (You heard me, and I’m not exaggerating.) Then you can jump right onto the next story with issue six. If you’re reading and enjoying Brubaker’s Daredevil, you absolutely should be reading Criminal. I’d bet that the corollary of enjoyment in those two audiences is about 95% or better. And Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk sit down and hash out Civil War and World War: Hulk in the epilogue! OK, so that’s a lie. Or is it? You’d better buy the Criminal trade just to be sure. (page M79)

The Damned Vol. 1: Three Days Dead TP (Oni Press) - I am almost anticipating The Damned trade paperback as much as I am the Criminal trade. It’s that good. Gorgeous art by Brian Hurtt, and a great setting that blends ’30s gangsters with demons to good effect. Cullen Bunn turns in a story of a guy on the outside, haunted by his past, who gets mixed up in a brewing gang war in an attempt to deal with some of his old demons (literal and figurative, in this case) and winds up discovering something big. Even without the supernatural elements, The Damned is a well-constructed noir mystery, and with the supernatural elements for flavor, it’s one of the freshest concepts I’ve read in a long time. (page 323)

Intersections TP (Image Comics) - Two talented realistic artists, Duncan Fegredo and Sean Phillips, team up for a near-100 page sketchbook. That’s all you’d need to sell me, but Intersections also has a clever hook: It’s a conversation, done as images mailed back and forth, which makes it an artistic experiment as well as just a chance to see some great art. Two talented cartoonists showing off their skills, that’s easily worth the $15 cover price. (page 148)

Batman: Ego and Other Tails HC (DC Comics) - Sometimes, it doesn’t pay to be ahead of the curve. I’m a huge Darwyn Cooke fan, and as a result, I’ve bought pretty much everything published in trade paperback or deluxe format. Batman: Ego? Got it. Catwoman: Selina’s Big Score? In hardcover. Solo #1 & 5 and Batman: Gotham Knights #23 & 33? Well, no, I’ve read them but I was holding out for a Solo collection and I didn’t buy Gotham Knights just to get the backup stories. So for those of you who haven’t read Ego or Selina’s Big Score, congrats because this is a big ‘ol great collection of Cooke’s work. For me, it’s like $25 for a couple short stories and two issues. I’m still considering it, though. That’s how much of a Darwyn Cooke fan I am. (page 67)

Re-Gifters GN (DC Comics/Minx) - The second of DC’s new imprint aimed at young adults, and again, though I’m not really the target audience, I’m intrigued. The creators on this are the creators of the delightful Vertigo miniseries My Faith in Frankie, and the story of a young Korean-American girl living on the fringes, fighting in martial arts tournaments and falling for a surfer sounds potentially good. DC may well snag their target audience with these books… they’ve certainly lined up some impressive talent for the launch. (page 109)

G.I. Joe: Storm Shadow #1 (Devil’s Due) - The good news is, Larry Hama is going to write a new ongoing G.I. Joe series. The bad news is, it’s all about Storm Shadow, and I don’t know about the rest of you, but I kind of got tired of all the ninja crap around the time G.I. Joe had a ninja force. Hama’s military jargon and fascination with military ethos and operations was a big part of what I liked about G.I. Joe, and I don’t know if that will show up in a story focused on anti-hero ninja Storm Shadow. But on the other hand… it’s Hama writing G.I. Joe regularly again, and this longtime G.I. Joe fanboy will definitely be at least giving it a look. Even if I might start drawing Zap and Shipwreck into the backgrounds and tagging acronym explanations like “*RPG= Rocket Propelled Grenade” into the margins. (page 277)

Silverfish HC (DC Comics/Vertigo) - So that’s what happened to Stray Bullets! David Lapham more or less vanished after his Batman arc, and I wondered when we might see some new Stray Bullets. As it turns out, we’re instead getting a 160 page original crime graphic novel from Vertigo written and drawn by Lapham. The preview art is gorgeous, and the genre is one that Lapham works well in, so I can’t wait to see it. For those who need a premise: 16-year-old Mia discovers that her stepmother has some nasty secrets involving money and a knife caked in blood, and winds up in dire straits with a deluded killer. Take that, apply one of the best crime writers in the medium, stir and buy the damn thing already. (page 112)

Hack/Slash: The Series #1 (Devil’s Due) - Hooray! I’ve had hit or miss experiences with the Hack/Slash one-shots, but I’ve always liked the property, and with an ongoing series finally in the works, hopefully the book will get the room to breathe that it needs to really grow. For those who haven’t read it before, Hack/Slash is not unlike Buffy the Vampire Slayer for slashers, written by a guy who totally gets the slasher ethos. Slasher movie fans will be in heaven, and even those who don’t generally dig on the genre but like self-referential versions of it (like Scream) will enjoy it as well. You can see an interview, with art pages, with artist Emily Stone at CBR. (page 273)

Silver Surfer Omnibus Vol. 1 HC (Marvel Comics) - I already have the issues of the Stan Lee/John Buscema Silver Surfer in an Essential volume, but oh man am I tempted by this book. Marvel’s previous Omnibus volumes like New X-Men and Uncanny X-Men have been great, chockful of letters pages, snazzy coloring and clean-up and other extras, and I’d expect this one to be no different. I’m a huge fan of Buscema’s work, and these really are the best stories ever told with the Silver Surfer (save maybe his first one). At $75, this is expensive, but odds are good it’ll be worth it. (page M89)

Countdown 51-48 (DC Comics) - Let’s see, weekly infusion of cash plus their best-selling series of the moment equals… yep, sequel to 52! Well, sort of. They’ve dropped the real-time gimmick, added the big characters back in and adopted a new writing and art method that looks more like a rotating anthology of creators, with Paul Dini “showrunning” the whole thing. The 52 team pulled off the seemingly impossible, can DC do it again and maintain the sales on a book that is starting to show some signs of reader fatigue? My guess is that Countdown will be about as good as 52, which is to say solid weekly superheroics, but that the hype that drove 52 to such dizzying heights of sales may not materialize for what is essentially “52 Year Two.” I’m no fan of the lame Countdown numbering (51 to zero? Really? Why not just add a -1 issue?), but I am a fan of Dini and I’m mildly addicted to weekly superhero melodrama at this point, so I’m probably in. (page 74)

Other Stuff That Caught My Eye:

Adhouse Sticker Pack (Adhouse) - I usually don’t mention non-comics stuff here, avoiding toys, etc., but I’ve got to give a mention to this five dollar pack of stickers from Adhouse. Stickers from Paul Pope, James Jean, etc. would make handy decorations for any comics fan, on anything from books to laptops to bikes to whatever. I’ll definitely be picking up a pack of these. (page 218)

Aliens Omnibus Vol. 1 (Dark Horse) - While I’ve read most if not all of the Predator and Terminator comics that Dark Horse put out, I’ve missed a lot of their Aliens work, and what I have read, I liked. So kudos to Dark Horse for putting this stuff back into print, in the sort of mid-digest format that they’ve recently used for Star Wars Rogue Squadron. It’s a big chunk of comics, and the art on this collection includes paint-y style work from Nelson and Den Beauvais as well as work from Sam Kieth! (page 30)

Batman #666 (DC Comics) - I’ve soured on Grant Morrison’s Batman run, but I might have to check back in for this weird high concept issue, which features Batman’s bratty son in the future, adopting his dad’s costume and fighting the Anti-Christ. In the hands of Morrison, that sounds like a potentially crazy fun outing. (page 64)

Batman: Turning Points TP (DC Comics) - DC digs into the back issue bins for the story that led up to Commissioner Gordon getting shot and sidelined. Now, all of that is gone post One Year Later, but the emotional core of these stories, following the Batman/Gordon relationship through the years and written by Greg Rucka, Chuck Dixon and Ed Brubaker, are still strong. And the artwork, by Steve Lieber, Dick Giordano, Paul Pope and others is pretty damn solid as well. This goes back far enough that I’ve got the single issues, but if you’re looking for some more Rucka and Brubaker stuff that was in many ways foundational to their creation of Gotham Central, Turning Points is a good place to look. (page 66)

Bizarre New World #1 (APE Entertainment) - APE comes out swinging in May with four new books! There’s a sequel to Revolutionary War era adventure title The Black Coat, which I’m quite looking forward to. There’s White Picket Fences, which I’ll cover later in this feature. There’s Subculture, which professes to be a loving look at fandom, and then there’s Bizarre New World. That one’s about a guy who develops a “problem with gravity” and it looks like a more “real world” treatment of what it would be like to be the world’s first flying human being. Lots of good premises in there, and though the talent is mostly new and unknown, there’s a lot of promise. (page 229)

Black Diamond #1 (AIT/Planet Lar) - I was starting to think we’d never see this limited series from AIT/Planet Lar, given that the preview book came out a couple years back. But it’s now being solicited, and it still looks like plenty of fun. High octane driving across a near-future cross-country elevated highway, as a dentist has to borrow his brother-in-law’s 1973 Mercury Cougar to take to the outlaw roads to rescue his wife. All in full color with art by Jon Proctor, of the short-lived but well-drawn Gun Theory miniseries. (page 222)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus (Dark Horse) - Dark Horse offers up another omnibus collection of out-of-print works, this time a selection of Buffy the Vampire Slayer material. This one includes Joss Whedon’s “director’s cut” version of the movie that brings it into line with the TV show, as well as a few of the stories from the tail end of Dark Horse’s ongoing series which take place earlier in continuity. I’ve read those stories, which feature Buffy’s post-movie adventure in Vegas in her early Slayer days as well as her stay in an asylum. It’s good background material for the Buffy fan, borderline canonical at best but pretty solidly entertaining. (page 23)

Crossing Midnight Vol. 1: Cut Here TP (DC Comics/Vertigo) - Mike Carey’s new Japanese horror/fantasy comic gets its first collection, a $10 trade to intrigue folks into sampling the new Vertigo book. For my part, I’m intrigued but not really hooked, and four issues in, that’s not a real strong recommendation. But there’s definitely something there, and if you’re the type of Vertigo fan more into Lucifer, Sandman and Hellblazer than Y, Fables and DMZ, Crossing Midnight is probably the best new book to check out. (page 117)

DC Comics Covergirls (Universe) - This book by Louise Simonson promises to be a look at the female characters of DC Comics throughout the history of the company. The question is, with that title, does this mean lots of cool cover art, or is it going to be a sparsely illustrated academic tract? Either one could be entertaining, both together might be a little tricky. Tough to judge based on the information given, and the $40 price point is a bit off-putting, but potentially an interesting look at a side of comics history that is woefully underdeveloped. (page 392)

Doctor Strange: The Oath TP (Marvel Comics) - Brian Vaughan’s hipster take on Doctor Strange was fun, fresh and fast-paced, but the reason I’m considering picking up the trade has more to do with the amazing clean-line artwork of Marcos Martin. Doctor Strange is a hard character to get right, and this creative team sets down a take on the character that could easily be the template for a new, successful ongoing for the Doctor and his supporting cast. Shame that Vaughan probably won’t return to write it, and I’m not sure who at Marvel would be up to the task of taking the foundation and running with it. (page M105)

Drawing From Life #1 (Image Comics) - My favorite Jim Valentino work was his dark autobiographical series A Touch of Silver, which unfortunately just sort of evaporated shortly into its run. Drawing From Life is a new autobio comic by Valentino, but it looks more like vignettes and short stories… sure to be entertaining, but probably not as deeply affecting as A Touch of Silver could be. At any rate, though, this is definitely the genre best suited to Valentino’s talents, and I’m glad to see him returning to it. (page 140)

Dwight T. Albatross’s The Goon Noir TP (Dark Horse) - An all-star lineup of guest artists and writers deliver a wide variety of stories set in the universe of The Goon. Some are a little lackluster, but many are as good or even better than Eric Powell’s offerings, and fans of The Goon’s off-kilter sensibilities would do well to check out this trade of black and white gems that include high profile guest creators from the worlds of comics, comedy and television. (page 26)

Exit Wounds HC (Drawn & Quarterly) - I’ve never even heard of Israeli cartoonist Rutu Madan, but looking at the cover to Exit Wounds, her graphic novel about a young man investigating his father’s death at the hands of a suicide bomber, I’m instantly enthralled. Featuring strong cartooning, and taking on fascinating subject material, Exit Wounds is an intriguing new offering. It also comes with a pretty impressive pedigree, as Madan has an impressive resume full of awards. You can check out a five-page PDF preview at Drawn & Quarterly’s site. (page 289)

Fables Vol. 9: Sons of Empire TP (DC Comics/Vertigo) - The latest Fables trade, and there’s not much new for me to say about my favorite book. This issue explores a theoretical war between the Homelands the adopted world of the Fables, and features some fascinating insights into modern warfare as tinged by magic. (page 119)

Fallen Angel: The Premiere Collection (IDW) - If this were an Absolute edition of the DC Fallen Angel, I’d be all over it. And even though I wasn’t crazy about J.K. Woodward’s art on the IDW version, I’m still tempted. The last super-deluxe hardcover IDW did, Adventures in Oz, was an amazing piece of work, and this collection of the 13 issues of the IDW series of Fallen Angel is definitely something I’ve got some interest in. Might need to check out the IDW trades and make a final decision. I almost want to buy it just to support IDW in showing this comic the love it never got (and truly deserved) during its time at DC. (page 308)

Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson Vol. 1 TP (Marvel Comics) - Kudos to Marvel for continuing to delve (albeit sparingly) into their back catalog for books that might interest those of us put off by the modern status quo. I read a good chunk of Simonson’s Fantastic Four, and while I didn’t love it, there was a lot to like, including a great, fun use of time travel. And, of course, fantastic art. An entirely fun surprise from Marvel. (page M108)

Garth Ennis’ Streets of Glory Preview (Avatar Press) - Not a huge Avatar fan, but every so often they hit something good, and from what I hear, Ennis’ latest project from them, Chronicles of Wormwood, is one of those. So maybe this one, a western by Ennis, will also hit that strike zone. I’ll say this for it, the preview art from Mike Wolfer looks pretty good. (page 237)

Gutsville #1 (Image Comics) - Wow, is that an insane premise. 150 years after an ocean liner was swallowed at sea, the descendants of the survivors live in a city in the guts of the beast. Bizarre, and full of stunning imagery from Frazer (Klarion the Witch Boy) Irving. (page 142)

Heroes for Hire #10 (Marvel Comics) - I missed this one last month, mostly because it’s been flying beneath my radar due to its Civil War tie-in status. I dug the characters from Daughters of the Dragon, and I like Palmiotti and Gray, but the Civil War tie-in to the first issue put me off. Issue 9, however, sees the start of a new era for the book, as Zeb Wells comes in to write and immediately throws Paladin (one of my favorite D-listers) back into the mix and then sends the team off to the Savage Land to hunt dinosaurs. Sounds fun enough to get me to give it another look, and if I wind up liking it, I’ll probably check out what Palmiotti and Gray wrote in the first 8 issues as well. (page M30)

Homeless Channel GN (AIT/Planet Lar) - I’ve noticed that the AIT/Planet Lar ad copy has started to become more and more obtuse about what the actual story of their books are, and the promo copy for Homeless Channel doesn’t do much to illuminate what the story is actually about. Fortunately, there’s a handy interview with creator Matt Silady (along with copious amounts of preview art) by Chris Arrant that tells you all you’ll need to know and is a pretty intriguing pitch for the series as well. (page 222)

Johnny Hiro #1 (Adhouse) - Adhouse has some of the best design sense in the industry, and they’ve discovered a lot of new talent. Fred Chao looks like another good discovery, as you can see by looking at the art on his blog. Johnny Hiro seems to be a lot like Dean Haspiel’s Billy Dogma, a tribute to the artist’s pop-cultural upbringing (in this case, Godzilla, Voltron and the like) with a strong indy sensibility behind it. (page 218)

JSA Presents: Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. Vol. 1 TP (DC Comics) - I was beginning to think DC was never going to reprint this series, which was Geoff Johns’ entry into the world of comics. Stargirl has become an important member of the JSA, and this is her origin, but the best reason to pick this one up is to see some fun superheroics from Johns in his early days. As I remember, the book was flawed, not as polished as his Flash run, but it had a lot to offer, including a very likable and well-rounded new female character. (page 82)

Marvel Adventures Iron Man #1 (Marvel Comics) - Iron Man movie coming up means a new Marvel Adventures title, this one featuring Iron Man as written by Fred Van Lente. Van Lente does solid superhero action, as seen in The Scorpion, and this looks like a worthy addition to Marvel’s low-selling but very good all-ages line. Strange that there’s not a Marvel Adventures X-Men, but I guess X-Men: First Class might be expected to fill that role, and without the Marvel Adventures tag, it’s selling better. (page M39)

Punisher MAX Vol. 3 HC (Marvel Comics) - I stopped reading the Punisher MAX series in single issues because I wanted to be able to read the stories for the first time in this oversized hardcover format, which seems like the ideal format for me. Punisher as R-rated action movie, divorced from the Marvel Universe, with a stream of great artists doing fantastic work and Ennis taking the character more seriously. Probably my favorite Garth Ennis book running right now. (page M93)

Scarlet Traces: The Great Game HC (Dark Horse) - Gorgeous, gorgeous art by D’Israeli is all I really need to pick up the latest in a series of stories about a corrupt British empire bolstered by stolen technology from the failed invasion of H.G. Wells’ Martians. But a good solid story of corrupt military forces vs. intrepid reporters and guerrilla truth-seekers by Ian Edginton doesn’t hurt. The Great Game is accessible even if you’ve never read the original Scarlet Traces, but I recommend that book as well as this sequel. At $15 a hardcover, they’re a steal. (page 31)

Silver Surfer: Requiem #1 (Marvel Comics) - Prepare yourself for another wrongheaded “everything you know is wrong” story from one of my Marvel’s resident ruiners of good things, J. Michael Straczynski. Hey Marvel, you know who would be great for a Silver Surfer series? Joe Casey and Tom Scioli of Godland. Boom. Done. You’re welcome. (page M57)

Spider-Man Fairy Tales #1 (Marvel Comics) - After the… success?… of X-Men Fairy Tales, Marvel moves forward with new fairy tales featuring Spider-Man and his cast. I don’t know that I have much interest personally, but props to the creative teams for digging into lesser-known myths, and to the editor for finding great creative talent. The artwork on issue #1, by Ricardo Tercio, looks great… although the first myth is Red Riding Hood, so not quite as far-flung as the Eastern and African fairy tales of the X-Men version. (page M20)

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane Vol. 3: My Secret Life Digest (Marvel Comics) - I’m holding out hope for a second hardcover collecting the latter half of the McKeever/Miyazawa series, but just in case it doesn’t come, I’ll be picking up these digests. Let me stress once again that this book is a terrific read, even if the story of Mary Jane doesn’t sound like the kind of thing that would usually be up your alley. (page M95)

Station #1 (Boom! Studios) - Murder on the International Space Station. It’s a great hook, and while Boom! might be setting the expectations a bit high comparing it to the amazing Whiteout from Oni Press, the unusual setting for a murder mystery certainly makes it seem a fair comparison. Johanna Stokes is a talented writer, and while I don’t know the art of Leno Jefferson, Boom! has had pretty good luck with artists as well. (page 252)

Strange Embrace #1 (Image Comics) - I read and reviewed this when it came out as a black and white graphic novel through Active Images. Now Image is re-releasing it as a re-colored limited series, and I highly advise anyone with a fondness for Vertigo cerebral books or psychological horror to give it a look. David Hine has carved out a niche for himself at Marvel with The 198, Silent War and the rest, but Strange Embrace is still, to my mind, his best and most challenging work. I hold it up there with Uzumaki as some of the most affecting horror in comics. (page 144)

Supernatural: Origins #1 (DC Comics/Wildstorm) - I’ve never seen the CW show Supernatural, but it seems to have captured some of the crowd who liked Charmed, Smallville and such, and it’s certainly a coup for Wildstorm to get an original prequel to the series co-written by its creator. I don’t have a ton of interest personally, but the art by Matthew Dow Smith and Phil Hester looks really nice, so I might just have to give it a look. (page 102)

Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 21: The Mother of Mountains TP (Dark Horse) - Not much new to say, just noting that there’s a new Usagi trade this month, which is always cause for celebration. Now if only Dark Horse would get all the back trades back into print again. (page 33)

Ward of the State #1 (Image Comics) - Image is really driving for the horror niche lately, and this one, about a foster mother who trains her wards to be serial killers, is an intriguing (and ready for movie option) premise with nice-looking art by mono-named Chee. This looks like the kind of thing I would have expected to see at IDW, and I’d expect that those who have enjoyed IDW’s horror offerings would like this as well. (page 146)

Warlash: Zombie Mutant Genesis GN (Asylum Press) - Fair warning… this kind of thing can easily be bleeding eyes-inducing bad, as it features a dystopian future, a “biomechanical hybrid warrior” as its protagonist, a serial killer, rogue geneticists, etc. In other words, all the plot elements of bad Troma films. But on the other hand, there’s something intriguing about the art, $5 for a 72 page full-color graphic novel isn’t bad at all, and this could easily be fun in a 2000 A.D. vein as well. (page 237)

White Picket Fences #1 (APE Entertainment) - This one looks like fun, a riff on ’50s alien invasion movies with really nice artwork. You can see the entire 5-page Free Comic Book Day story and 10 pages of unlettered preview on Comicspace. (page 229)

Working Methods: Comic Creators Detail Their Storytelling and Artistic Processes (Twomorrows Publishing) - Process junkies, take note, Twomorrows offers up a big ‘ol book of artists and writers talking about their methods, their tools and basically how they do what they do. The creators involved aren’t listed, but Twomorrows has a good history with this kind of thing. (page 353)