Welcome to Down the Line, our monthly look at Previews! Co-written by Randy Lander and Dan Grendell, each Down the Line looks at what’s coming out in comics (and manga) a few months down the road.

This installment covers the June Previews for comics due to ship out August 2008 or later. 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. Thanks to the increasing prevalence of advance solicitation, that some of the books here won’t actually ship until September or later, but the pre-orders are still due by the end of June.

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. Dan and I will both offer up a “Top Five Shiny New Things to Watch Out For,” also in alphabetical order, and then we’ll provide a rundown of “Other Stuff That Caught Our Eye.” The focus in this column is always going to be on jumping-on points and new stuff, so if you’re wondering “Where’s Nova?” or something along those lines, we still love it, we just don’t want to keep harping on it.

Randy’s Top Five Shiny Things To Watch Out For:

Atomic Robo: The Dogs of War #1 (Red 5 Comics):
Randy: Yay! Atomic Robo is back! The first Atomic Robo miniseries was easily the gem of Red 5’s offerings thus far, a great mix of pseudo-science, pulp adventure and maybe a touch of Internet humor with terrific art by Scott Wegener. This new miniseries seems to be set entirely during World War II, which is promising given that the first World War II Atomic Robo story was one of my favorites. (page 346)

Dan: I actually preferred the more modern stories, but I’m certainly not going to pass this by or anything. I loved the first series, and I’m pretty confident that another dose is gonna thrill me just as much.

Family Dynamic #1 (DC Comics):
Randy: It’s funny, I’ve almost entirely sworn off buying single issues, but you know what’s bringing me back? DC’s kids line, which just looks cooler with every new title. My daughter loves Tiny Titans, I suspect she’s gonna dig Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam!, but this one is for both of us. Finally, J. Torres and Tim Levins, creators of The Copybook Tales and short-lived (but fondly remembered) superhero/mystery book Siren, reunite for a full-color, all-ages six-issue miniseries about a family of superheroes who use “elemental rings” to battle the forces of evil (and power-hungry extended family) in Storm City. Torres and Levins have that rare kind of magic chemistry when they work together, and this is sure to be a treat… don’t let it pass you by. (page 99)

Korgi Book 2: The Cosmic Collector (Top Shelf Productions):
Randy: I have been anxiously, impatiently awaiting another volume in this all-ages fantasy with lush artwork since the first volume came out several years ago. Now, just in time for the summer conventions, it’s finally here! Korgi, in case you missed the first volume, is about a little dog who is the pet (and maybe guardian) of a young fairy girl who often runs afoul of monsters. Oh, and Korgi breathes fire. It’s a strange, lyrical fantasy work that features some of the best art I’ve ever seen. (page 362)

Local HC (Oni Press):
Randy: At the time of this writing, I don’t know how Local ends, because issue twelve hasn’t hit yet. And I’ll be honest, I haven’t loved the last few issues of the series anywhere near as much as I did the first half-dozen. However… this hardcover goes on my pull list without hesitation. Because even if the ending does wind up wobbly, Ryan Kelly’s artwork is gorgeous throughout, Brian Wood’s stories are well-crafted and interesting and the first four or five issues of this comic were damned near perfection. And this hardcover sounds like it’s going to pretty amazing. Same size as Marvel’s oversized hardcovers, nice paper quality, pages upon pages of extras (around 70, I think?) and a nice quality binding like the one Drawn & Quarterly has been using on the Yoshihiro Tatsumi volumes, like Pushman. So that wins over the format whore side of my personality, even as the series has won over the story and art lover side. (page 334)

Welcome to Hoxford #1 (IDW):
Randy: The last time Ben Templesmith wrote and drew something, we got the wonderfully demented and funny Wormwood, Gentleman Corpse. Now he’s telling the story of a twisted, corporate-run mental hospital. From the little hints he’s been dropping on his blog and Twitter feed, not to mention that this just sounds, at a gut-level, like a perfect match with Templesmith’s sensibilities, I cannot wait to see it. (page 315)

Dan: This does seem like a perfect match for Templesmith, and he’s proven himself to me as a writer of strangeness. I hope he sticks with the quirkiness he handles so well and doesn’t go too far into just plain dark with this. As a side note, Templesmith also has a Wormwood art book solicited this month, for everyone who has been into the way he’s done that series. It apparently has a new Wormwood short story.

Dan’s Top Five Shiny Things To Watch Out For:

Bernie Wrightson’s Frankenstein (Dark Horse Comics):
Dan: This is one of those projects that gets talked about with reverence and awe. Not a comics adaptation of the novel, but the prose version with 47 haunting full-page illustrations by Bernie Wrightson. Dark Horse is giving it a 9″ by 12″ oversized hardcover to spotlight that artwork, and this will look amazing. This is one of those rare times where an artist illustrating a novel just magnifies the entire work, and it shouldn’t be missed. (page 34)

You’ll All Be Sorry TP (About Comics):
Randy: Gail Simone’s earliest work, her humor columns lampooning a variety of comics culture with a very sharp, witty, style, are finally collected. If you’ve never read them before, but you’re a Simone fan now, this should definitely be on your buying list for the month. And if you have read them before, it probably already is. Now the only thing that really remains out of print from Simone’s “best of” work is her Deadpool run. Hello, Marvel? Anybody listening over there? (page 196)

Dan: I was a devoted follower of Simone’s column when it was active, and it was my love of her writing here that led me to follow her into the comics world. If you missed these back then, this is well worth picking up now. Hell, I’m gonna pick it up anyway, because I want to read them again.

Warhammer 40K: Fire and Honour #1 (Boom! Studios):
Randy: I don’t know why I’m so excited about a game I’ve never played, and probably will never play. Partly it’s because Games Workshop has succeeded in making a cool looking universe, even if the thought of spending a bazillion dollars on buying and a bazillion hours on gluing and painting armies terrifies you to your very soul. And mostly it’s because so far, Boom! has produced some great comics in the Warhammer and Warhammer 40K universes. Doesn’t hurt that this features two of the factions I find most interesting, the more human Imperial Guard and the cool-looking alien Tau. (page 241)

Dan: Now, I’ve been playing a wide variety of Games Workshop games for well over a decade now, so I think it’s cool as hell that other people are catching on to their awesome universes. The comics have been very well done, and a great gateway.

Wild Animals V.1 (Yen Press):
Dan: More cool manga from Yen. This one is based on a novel and looks at the life of Chinese youth during the Cultural Revolution, 1966-76. What was really going on and how were kids reacting to it? What was life like for the people who would become the backbone of modern China? This promises to be informative and cool both. (page 392)

Tokyo Zombie SC (Last Gasp):
Dan: A bizarre manga (I know, I know), this is the story of two slacker factory workers who accidentally kill their boss. They hide the body in a giant trash heap called Dark Fuji, which of course has toxic waste in it that turns corpses into killer zombies. Can the idiotic duo survive? I’m pretty done with zombies, but this looks absurd and funny as hell. (page 329)

Randy: How is this bizarre? It sounds like how I spent my summer between sophomore and junior years of college.

Other stuff that caught our eye:

Air #1 (DC Comics/Vertigo):
Randy: Vertigo is putting some marketing muscle behind this one, with returnability offered to retailers who order a reasonable amount. And the art, by M.K. Parker, looks pretty good, and G. Willow Wilson’s moment-to-moment writing, based on the three-page preview, is pretty strong. But this is another one of those weird concept books like American Virgin or Exterminators or Testament that Vertigo has launched lately, and given its unexplainable premise, I have some doubts about its longevity. Hope I’m wrong, because it looks kinda good, but they really could use another relatively straightforward, solid concept with great execution like Y The Last Man, Preacher or hell, even Fables. (page 114)

All-Star Superman #12 (DC Comics):
Randy: Having just read All-Star Superman #11, and seeing the cover for this one, I feel confident in predicting one badass ending, and I will start the positive thoughts campaign for an Absolute All-Star Superman volume… now. (page 81)

Dan: Hell, yeah. I fell off this book for a few issues, but #11 brought me back in a big way, and this should be a great finale. I very much support that campaign.

Batman and the Outsiders Vol. 1: The Chrysalis TP (DC Comics):
Randy: This is one of my favorite DC comics of the moment, a fun, unpretentious, action-packed superhero team book with a lot of cool characters and gorgeous art. (page 90)

Bionic Commando 99cent Special (Devil’s Due):
Randy: Does it make me a bad person that I’m actually kind of excited about a new comic based on a mediocre side-scrolling videogame? Or that I’m also excited about the videogame update coming later this year? At any rate, the creative team’s take on the property, featuring an ex-bionic commando throwing in with his “fellow bionic outcasts” to wage war on the government that rebuked them, sounds potentially fun. (page 260)

Dan: I, on the other hand, remember playing this some twenty years ago, and it didn’t exactly have a ton of plot. I just keep remembering the frustration of trying to grab a corner with my arm and swing, and the idea of a comic based on that makes me want to hammer a nail in my eye.

The Boys Definitive Edition High-End Edition HC (Dynamite):
Randy: $500?!! Good lord, is it printed in gold and personally delivered to your house by the creators? Seriously, for $500 you can afford airfare and hotel to visit a convention and get your (more reasonable) $75 hardcover signed by the creators. (page 249)

Dan: I think it comes with a year’s supply of gerbils.

DC Comics Goes Ape TP (DC Comics):
Dan: DC hears about the upcoming Avengers/Apes story from Marvel, and decides to point out that they’ve been doing that for like forty years. I’m surprised they didn’t just collect the JLApe Annuals from a decade ago. Maybe because most of those sucked? (page 91)

Empowered Vol 4 (Dark Horse):
Randy: Will it hurt my indie cred if I admit that I really preferred the Empowered stories in color? The story on Myspace is reprinted here in color, the rest is in black and white. I’d just as soon have it all in color, but it’s a minor preference, because either way the book is a ton of sexy fun. (page 30)

Dan: I, on the other hand, prefer it in black and white, but whatever. It’s still awesome.

Fables: Covers by James Jean HC (DC Comics/Vertigo):
Randy: I’m a huge James Jean fan, a format whore and someone who loves these cover design type books. So I’m pretty much the target audience for a hardcover of Jean’s gorgeous Fables covers, complete with sketches and commentary. I’m just not sure, after having bought two of Jean’s art books from Adhouse and every Fables trade, if I want to drop $40 on another art book that combines the two. (page 119)

Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #1 (DC Comics):
Randy: To whom it may concern: Nobody gives a rat’s ass about Superboy Prime. Thank you. Damn, and I was really kind of mildly sort of interested in a Legion story by Geoff Johns, too. (page 65)

Dan: Don’t forget the Time Trapper. We all want stories about him, too.

Final Crisis: Revelations #1 (DC Comics):
Randy: The solicit for this one sort of sums up a lot of what I dislike about the direction DC has taken with some of Greg Rucka’s work. It features Crispus Allen, now the Spectre, and his former partner, Renee Montoya, now the Question, fighting… uh, mopiness I guess? At any rate, it seems clear now that Gotham Central was little more than a long origin story for the new Spectre and Question, and that’s pretty damned depressing. (page 64)

Dan: I’m not as annoyed by it as you, but the whole Spectre thing is really getting old. Once upon a time he was a lovable guy who cut people in half with giant scissors and delivered vengeance with his buddies. Now he’s always this emo monster or murdering Atlantis or whatever. As for the Question, I actually like Montoya as Question. I do wish she’d cheer up a bit, though.

Randy: Depression and self-loathing is the new Black.

Flash Gordon #1 (Ardden Entertainment):
Randy: I have some mild fondness for the space opera stylings of Flash Gordon, but I’m a little wary that it’s coming out from an untested publisher and untested creators. Still, that means there’s room for pleasant surprise as easily as unpleasant surprise, and they made enough of a positive impression on King Features to earn the license, so I wish them luck. (page 212)

Freedom Formula #1 (Radical Publishing):
Randy: Radical’s first two offerings, a historical fantasy and a fantasy-tinged western, are joined by a sci-fi racing tale. Underground street racing, genetically-engineered pilots and the painted style art that Radical is famous for equals another potentially interesting entry for this new publisher. Like Red 5 Comics, they’re rolling out relatively slowly (a good move) and building their rep on a wide variety of genres, interesting new concepts, solid storytelling and great production values. (page 344)

Dan: The concept is fairly interesting, and Radical impressed me with both of their initial offerings. I’m definitely going to give this a shot.

Guerillas #1 (Image Comics):
Dan: Vietnam drags on, and the U.S. government isn’t pleased. They’re willing to try something new to change things up- a new type of troop at home in the jungle- monkeys. Chimps with special training are sent out as special forces with a single human soldier. The idea is kind of cool, and the artwork from the preview was good. I’m curious to see where this goes. Plus, monkeys. (page 142)

Image Monster Pile-Up #1 (Image Comics):
Randy: A $1.99 sampler issue featuring all-new stories of Proof, Firebreather, Astounding Wolf-Man and Perhapanauts? Cool. I’m a huge fan of two of those books and a mildly interested fan of the others. Not wild about putting stories “essential to each series” into a book that is basically forcing someone to read other books, but they’re all good books, so it’s a mild concern. Also a mild concern, that $1.99 is now a bargain price. When I started buying comics in my early teens, I would have thought that price a gigantic ripoff… now it can legitimately be called a bargain price. (page 147)

Dan: I don’t doubt that these stories will be collected in the trades of the individual titles, but this is a cheap way to see what you think about each one. I’ve checked each title out, and each is at least decent, with a couple being standouts.

Necronomicon #1 (Boom! Studios):
Randy: William Messner-Loebs kicks off a new miniseries that sounds like it’s a foundational miniseries for Boom’s loosely affiliated line of horror books. It’s like the man said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the appeal of alien gods from another dimension who want to eat our souls.” Wait, that is the expression, right? (page 236)

Dan: I hear it all the time.

Secret Invasion (Marvel):
Randy: Wow. So there’s a lot of Secret Invasion this month. In addition to the main miniseries, three Avengers titles, two Secret Invasion miniseries and 10 ongoing titles tying in, there are four new Secret Invasion miniseries launched this month. Specifically, Inhumans (courtesy of Joe Pokaski and Tom Raney), Spider-Man: Brand New Day (courtesy of Brian Reed and Marco Santucci), X-Men (courtesy of Mike Carey and Cary Nord) and Thor (courtesy of Matt Fraction and Doug Braithwaite). I’m uninterested in the first two thanks to a combination of characters and writers I either don’t know or don’t much care for, but X-Men has a neat premise (holding San Francisco, a relatively undefended city, against the Skrull invasion) and a good creative team and Thor has a potentially good premise (defending small-town Oklahoma from a Skrull invasion), a great guest-star (Beta Ray Bill! Hells yeah!) and a great creative team. So if you love Secret Invasion and hate having money, August is going to be a great month for you. (pages M36-M53)

Dan: I’ve been following the story of the Inhumans since House of M, so I am interested in that mini, and that Thor does indeed look cool as hell. Despite my reservations, many of the stories involved with Secret Invasion are drawing me in, even if the main plot is only of middling interest.

Speed Grapher V.1 (Tokyopop):
Dan: Here’s an interesting concept for a manga. A photojournalist is investigating a Tokyo club, and his investigations take him to a woman whose touch gives him the power to cause anything or anyone he photographs to explode. I have no idea what else is going on, but that’s enough to get me to read and find out. (page 354)

Spider-Man J: Turning Japanese Digest (Marvel):
Randy: Uh… do they know what “turning Japanese” refers to over at Marvel? I mean, I know the Spider-Man manga was different, but I didn’t think it was quite that weird. (page M95)

Dan: “Wanna see my web-shooters, Mary Jane-chan? Careful, or they might go off in your hair.”

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane #1 (Marvel):
Randy: Man, I wish I was more excited about this. But a lot of what I loved about this book was Takeshi Miyazawa’s artwork and Sean McKeever’s writing. Terry Moore is an interesting choice for a replacement, and a 5-issue mini structure undercuts his biggest weakness (weak endings), and Craig Rosseau is a very good artist, it’s just… I dunno. For me, I guess the spark is gone. I am, however, pleased to discover that Marvel is doing a hardcover of the rest of the McKeever run on Spidey Loves Mary Jane. (page M16)

Dan: I am cautiously optimistic. I do wish Moore was on art, as I would love to see his style on these characters, but even more I hope it going back to mini-series status doesn’t mean the book is dying.

Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Vol 1 HC (Marvel):
Randy: This is great stuff, and I love Marvel’s giant omnibus format, but honestly? I think this stuff works better in black and white, in the Essentials format. Gene Colan’s artwork looks amazing in black and white. (page M85)

Dan: I agree wholeheartedly, and yet I still find myself considering this. The only possible reason can be vampiric hypnosis.

Randy: Dan uses that phrase as an excuse like three times a day, folks. “I crashed into your car… the only possible reason can be vampiric hypnosis.” “I forgot to pick up my dry cleaning… the only possible reason can be vampiric hypnosis.”

And it’s only vampiric hypnosis like 50, 60 percent of the time.

Uncle Slam Fights Back One-Shot (Oni Press):
Randy: Ande Parks has become a dark horse favorite writer of mine with Capote in Kansas and Daredevil: Blood of the Tarantula, but this is a revival of an older creation, the more humorous and action-focused Uncle Slam and Fire Dog. Political humor is dicey at best, and I’m always afraid of finding out more about a favorite creator’s politics than I really want to know, but I like Parks’s writing, so I’ll be checking this out. (page 338)

X-Files Special #0 (DC Comics/Wildstorm):
Randy: Shipping in July to take advantage of the new movie, this is an original comics story written by long-time X-Files writer/producer Frank Spotnitz with art by the always impressive Brian Denham. I have fond memories of the Topps’ X-Files comics from the ’90s, and this does seem like a property that can translate well into comics. (page 109)

X-Men Origins: Jean Grey (Marvel):
Randy: I tend not to have much interest in these secret origins one-shots, which usually add backstory that either wasn’t needed or actively damages a character. However, the X-Men: Colossus one-shot was pretty good, and the creative team here, Sean McKeever and Mike Mayhew, is pretty good as well. (page M69)