The Next Issue Project!

I don't buy much Image. But I made an exception a few years back when the debut issue of "The Next Issue Project" hit the stands. The idea is a clever one, put out a new "next issue" of a defunct Golden Age comic book. Get top-name creators to contribute and give the whole shebang a modern ironic twist. Sounds like fun.

The first issue was the next issue of Fantastic Comics, a Fox publication starring Samson and filled with backup features like Clip Carson, Sub Saunders, Captain Kidd, Stardust, and Space Smith. It was cleverly done, oversized as a Golden Age comic would be. Some of the pages were toned to imitate vintage pulp paper and the whole thing looked snazzy. The stories were uneven, with some offering fun spins on classic concepts and others being downright incomprehensible. The Stardust story by Mike Alred was pretty keen, as well as Tom Yeates spin on the Golden Knight.

The next issue just hit the stands, nearly two years later and it was the "next issue" of Silver Streak Comics starring Daredevil, The Claw, Captain Battle, and Silver Streak. This one was oversized too, but slimmer with fewer features, but I'll have to say they were more enjoyable. None of the stories was impossible to understand, and most were well crafted. The stories were frothy and light, almost too much so, but with talents like Alan Weiss, Erik Larsen, Paul Grist, and Michael T. Gilbert, the contents were professional. My favorite story featured The Claw of today, a corporate figure lost in the requirements of the modern world and the reality of older age.

It takes a long time for these to come out it seems. And that's good, as I don't know that I'd get them much more often than once or twice a year at most.

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