Somebody call the Scooby Gang

[trashcanman]

I've got a mystery. Okay, so way back in April, legendary comics for grown-ups distributor Heavy Metal announced some new comic series, one of which rang my dinner bell.

www.craveonline.com/entertainment/975007-exclusive-preview-heavy-metals-atoll-1

Fuck yeah. Killer shark comic incoming. I was all in. Had my subscription with my online comic vendor and everything. Along with The Shallows (arguably the best killer shark movie since Jaws, and definitely the best since Deep Blue Sea), this was going to be my personal Summer of the Shark. But then my monthly comic shipment came after the August release date and there was no Atoll for me. The comic vendor listed the first issue as out of stock and it's a massive pain in the ass to contact them, so I went looking elsewhere. Nobody had it. Not anybody. There were scattered reviews of it from July, yet nobody seems to have an actual physical copy of the book. And it wasn't available digitally anywhere either. Not even on torrent sites. THIS COMIC DOES NOT EXIST.

There wasn't even a mention of it anywhere on Heavy Metal's site. I emailed them about it and they never answered. If you search for it on Google, all you will find is the announcement, the above preview, a few reviews, and some empty pages with the comic listed along with its cover, but no details. I did manage to find a single post in a single comment section for another HM comic asking why Atoll got cancelled (was it cancelled? They never even announced it), but that's it. This thing has effectively been scrubbed from existence faster than Hulk Hogan in the WWE with no explanation. What the fuck, man? How does something like this even happen in the internet age?

[The Curmudgeon]

Sorry, Hulk who?

It is odd, but I've not been online in a few days and so this thread is a few days old now, so maybe something has, ah ha, "surfaced?"

comicbookroundup.com/comic-books/reviews/heavy-metal/the-atoll/1

[trashcanman]

Those are some of the preview reviews from July (it was set to come out in August). So either these fools are making shit up or there are actual physical copies of this book in existence and only the early reviewers received them. I just can't imagine what the hell would cause a company to spend the money to create something, advertise it, and then just not put it out at all. What really gets me is that HM hasn't said anything whatsoever. No mention it ever even existed on their own site and no response to direct inquiries. Even if they felt the interest wasn't there and they thought it'd lose money, it costs exactly nothing to respond to an email or post an announcement. This shit is eating my brain like a night swimmer.

[trashcanman]

An update. I got my monthly shipment this week and lo and behold, Atoll #2 was in it. I found copies of the first issue at inflated prices on Amazon and said "fuck it". I had a gift card and I NEEDED to buy that shit at this point. No mention of Heavy Metal on it, though, so I guess another comic publisher, Big Picture Comics, picked it up and put it out. Hopefully the rest of the issues come out at regular intervals now (and release dates appear to have been set www.atomicempire.com/issues.aspx?title=18713). I was worried at this point that I'd just spent nearly $10 on a single issue that wasn't even good (the lone Amazon review was two stars and the other reviews were unenthusiastic if mildly complimentary), but within a few pages, Atoll was already one of my favorite comics I read this year. Well paced story, insanely good art, and sex, cursing, and violence. Seems like it should be more than 4 issues, though. Halfway through and all I can think about is it'll need at least 6 to satisfy me. What the hell, I'll take what I can get when it comes to comics about sharks eating people.

[The Curmudgeon]

I re-read this thread and maybe I've been on the internet too long but I almost expect you to accuse this of being a Mandela Effect. I need to get offline, man.

Glad the book is good, but what is it you've subscribed to? Like, a monthly haul of random stuff?

[trashcanman]

No, it's my comic subscription service. I pretty much find all of the titles I want to subscribe to and at the end of each month they bill me and then send all of the comics from my subscribed series that came out since the last shipment. I had Atoll on that list (forgot it was still there, actually). The first issue wasn't sent, presumably due to some fuck up involving the initial release, which would explain why it's available now when it wasn't before, but the first issue didn't register with my subscription when it was rereleased or whatever.