February, The Month of Romance -- and Criminal and The Fade Out!

Early last week, Image Comics released their February solicitations, and from Sean Phillips' summary we see that there's a ton of material coming our way from Brubaker and Phillips.

The new editions of Criminal will continue their monthly release schedule with volume 2 on February 18th. "Lawless" will feature new cover art that complements January's new edition of "Coward."

Then, on February 25th, the entire run of The Fade Out  -- up to this point -- will be released with the first trade paperback and the next issue.  With The Fade Out #5, "The second act of BRUBAKER and PHILLIPS’ biggest hit ever begins with a bang!" -- and with a perfect jumping-on point for new readers.

Ed Brubaker's other series, Velvet with Steve Epting, is noticeably absent from the month's listings.   Combining recent news stories with this week's extended forecast from ComicList, we anticipate a lot of good books out over the next three months -- including a $1 "Image First" reprint of the debut issue of The Fade Out.

• 12/17 The Fade Out #1 Image Firsts Edition
• 12/24 The Fade Out #4, Velvet #9
• 1/7  Velvet #10
• 1/28 Criminal Special Edition, Criminal: Coward TPB
• 2/18 Criminal: Lawless TPB
• 2/25 The Fade Out #5 and Vol 1 TPB

I would expect Velvet #10 to be pushed back a little and not come so hot on the heels of the previous issue, but we predict that the series' second arc will conclude by February.