Swing by Ash Avenue Comics on from 5-7PM on Wednesday, July 15, to celebrate the brand-new release of American Nature Presents #4 with contributor Mark Pearsall!
We’re kicking things off the release of the latest issue with a very special guest: Mark Pearsall will be in the shop hanging out. Mark penned the definitive exposé on the mysterious, legendary OG punk band hailing from Downers Grove, IL, the Insane War Tomato’s. We were lucky enough to recently get a breakdown from Mark on the contents of his piece in the new issue, and it’s bizarre and totally worth the read. We were fortunate to meet Mark last year, when we had Greg and Fake in the shop for the Santos Sisters Tour stop, he’s a long time friend of Greg and Fake’s, and now we count him as a friend of the shop.
The Monster High Pride 2024 comic is our hottest seller this year, and remains our most-viewed product listing even now, months after publication. Fortunately, you Monster High-loving boos and ghouls have another chance to catch up with their favorite dead student body with the debut of IDW’s Monster High: New Scaremester #1! Monster High has become an influential pop culture touchstone over the last fifteen years (Netflix’s Wednesday clearly draws some inspiration from it), but the typical comic book reader may not know all the ins and outs. My wife, Beegee, is an avid Monster High collector, so these creepy kids have been haunting me whenever I walk into our studio for years now. They’re like family. Now let me be your ghastly guide through the horrific halls of Monster High!
“Monster High” was created by Garrett Sander, with illustrations by Kellee Riley and illustrator Glen Hanson. The line was lauched by Mattel in 2010, featuring a range of fashion dolls, books, and other assorted tie-in products that follow the children of famous monsters attending high school. With unique characters and inclusive themes, the series quickly became a phenomenon.
The series features a diverse group of teenagers who are the children of famous monsters such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Werewolf. Your typical Monster High story revolves around the characters navigating high school life and embracing their unique identities and differences. (Here’s a free play scenario for you kids out there: Re-cast your Rainbow High and LOL Surprise dolls as the children of famous monster-hunters who go to a rival school called Van Helsing High or Simon Belmont High and get them all dressed up for the most ill-advised mixer ever!)
Their world has become well-populated through the years, but this is the core cast of Monster High characters as I see it:
Frankie Stein: The daughter of Frankenstein’s monster and his bride, known for their kind and friendly nature. Taking after their parents, they have a stitched-up appearance. To the extent that Monster High has a main character, I gather that it’s Frankie, although it seems to me that in the current generation of Monster High, they’ve been replaced by…
Draculaura: The fabulous fanged daughter of Count Dracula, recognizable by her trademark pink-and-black color scheme. She’s a vegetarian vampire with a sweet and bubbly personality. Beegee’s favorite.
Clawdeen Wolf: The daughter of the Werewolf, Clawdeen is known for her fashion sense and confidence. She has a fierce personality and a protective nature towards her friends.
Lagoona Blue: The daughter of the Sea Monster, Lagoona is laid-back and loves sports. She has a kind and easy-going personality.
Ghoulia Yelps: The brainy and resourceful daughter of Zombies, Ghoulia is highly intelligent but communicates primarily through moans and groans. I always think her name is Julia Ghoulia because of The Wedding Singer. I don’t know if that interests you or not. Her doll is cool because it glows in the dark.
Some of the satellite characters include:
Venus McFlytrap
Venus McFlytrap: The daughter of a man-eating plant. Venus McFlytrap is awesome. My personal favorite.
Toralei: The rock ‘n roll daughter of werecats. She’s a female orange tabby, which means she’s good luck. Bit of a shedder. (That’s not canon.)
Abbey Bominable: The daughter of the Yeti. She has icy powers and the straightforward personality that’s classic Yeti.
Spectra Vondergeist: The snoopy daughter of ghosts, she can phase through walls like Kitty Pryde and loves to spread gossip.
Rochelle Goyle: The daughter of gargoyles, she’s strong and protective of the other students. She’s from Scaris, which I think is Paris in Monster High World.
Operetta: The rebellious daughter of the Phantom of the Opera. She has a passion for music.
Don’t miss out on Monster High: New Scaremester #1! For the latest updates on upcoming Monster High dolls (as well as other lines such as Barbie,LOL Surprise, and Rainbow High), YouLoveIt.com is a great site to bookmark.
After a four year hiatus, the Ash Ave Comic Book Club returns on Sunday, April 21st to discuss Tom King and Mitch Gerads’ latest work, The Winning Card. Originally serialized in the DC Comics anthology series Batman: The Brave and the Bold, King and Gerads pick up where their Riddler graphic novel left off, with a pivot to the Clown Prince of Crime. The Winning Card is a re-imagination of the first Joker story from Batman #1 in 1940, setting out to create a comic book that, as Mitch Gerads has stated, “actually scares you,” the reader.
In one day we sold through the initial dozen copies we received, and we have more copies on the way for anyone looking to read it. Now, when it comes to how the Comic Book Club works, the main sticking point is that you need to purchase the graphic novel from us to attend the meetup. If you have already purchased a copy from the shop last week and would like to attend the meetup, then please reach out ASAP to claim your spot. If you want to attend Comic Book Club, your purchase of the graphic novel and your verbal or written commitment to attend the meetup is what we need. After all, seating is limited. And we have to have one extra open seat, as artist Mitch Gerads will be sitting in and joining us for our meetup… just like the good old days. (Mitch is a great sport, and loves to talk comics. Back in the day, he previously attended the Ash Ave Comic Book Club meetups for his maxi-series Sheriff of Baghdad and Mister Miracle).
Looking forward to seeing old and new faces for the first Comic Book Club in a long while. Shoot the shop a DM or email with any specific questions, or to reserve a seat and copy of the book. We do recommend that you get the book as soon as our restock arrives, and get to reading ASAP so you will have had some time in the week leading up to the event to think it over, and maybe put together some questions, analysis, or criticism to share with our discussion group.
Tough week for Bill Skarsgård, huh? Even our UPS guy is coming in and dunking on this new Crow trailer, and for what? I thought it was fine. He’s fine in it. And if he wasn’t, it’s not like he would even be the worst Crow ever. Edward Furlong played the Crow like he was being held hostage by a drug cartel. Marc Dacascos looked like he was dressed as Brandon Lee for an office Halloween party, but he gets to live his life. So what gives? Is it that, by having the gross effrontery to survive the filming of this Crow re-make, Skarsgård punctures people’s romantic notions surrounding the first movie and Brandon Lee’s death? Lee was so young and un-formed as a celebrity persona when he was accidentally killed on the set of The Crow that it’s only natural that our perceptions of him would harden around that character, a murdered man cut down in the prime of his life alongside his fianceé. Because the news of his death was the first time most people became aware of him, and because storytelling is a way we’ve coped with life’s injustices since the dawn of time, I think a lot of people ascribe Brandon Lee’s death on the set of that specific movie to a kind of grim destiny. By surviving the filming of this re-make, Bill Skarsgård suggests that maybe Lee’s death wasn’t romantic, or fate. Maybe it was just a freak accident that ruined a lot of people’s lives for no good reason, and life is really just a complex web of overlapping coincidences that add up to one big mess. Maybe The Crow was just a regular movie this whole time. Maybe we like it for the wrong reasons. But chin up, Bill Skarsgård! Though today you may be tempest-toss’d by life’s YouTube commentors… There’s Always Next Week!
FERAL #1
Art: Trish Forstner | Story: Tony Fleecs (Image Comics, $3.99)
As we discussed last week with Man’s Best, I really am an abysmal chump when it comes to stories about plucky animals in danger. They don’t even have to be good. Replace any human in the most risible, hackneyed scenario with a sad-eyed dog or wisecracking cat and see how dewy my eyes become instantly.
No surprise, then, that Trish Forstner’s Stray Dogs is my favorite comic from the last few years. She draws the way I wish I could draw, wringing every drop of pathos and anxiety out of the adorable Don Bluth-esque dogs she’s placed in the home of a serial killer. It’s twisted, subversive stuff. Now she’s back again with Feral, about a trio of housecats adrift in a world beset by a rabies outbreak, and I cannot wait. I’ve looked forward to this for months. Buy it, read it, read it again.
PRE-ORDER IT: Trish Forstner & Tony Fleecs Main Cover | Trish Forstner & Tony Fleecs Variant | Blank Sketch Cover| 1:10 Trish Forstner & Tony Fleecs Variant | 1:25 Sweeney Boo Variant
Primer #1
PRIMER #1
Art: Gretel Lusky | Story: Jennifer Muro and Thomas Krajewski (DC Comics, $3.99)
It might be controversial to say it, but DC’s superhero comics for the last two decades or so have often been, in my opinion, in questionable taste. My opinion! Yes, I am a creampuff who gets gooey over cartoon animals, but DC heroes are always getting their arms torn off or raped or burned to death or their moms killed or their girlfriends killed and it happens more often than I would like. Where DC reigns supreme, though, is the YA superhero book. They have this on lock. Gabriel Picolo and Kami Garcia’s Teen Titans books are all winners, and Yoshi Yoshitani’s I Am Not Starfire is a classic.
I’ve never heard of Primer before, because I am, as longtime readers know and new readers must suspect, a clod. This is a four-issue re-print of a graphic novel from 2020 (maybe that’s why I don’t remember it). The premise—an artistic girl comes into possession of a set of body paints that give the wearer superpowers—is brilliant, and Gretel Lusky’s art makes you want to crawl into her panels and live there. If you don’t buy it, I will, and I work here so I’ve got the edge. Make your move.
The last time I read an issue of Spawn, it was about a guy named Paul getting crushed to death by spiked walls for twenty pages while Spawn looked on. I said, “Well! I never!” and went to find a comic about a cuddly animal. Now here’s Sam and Twitch: Case Files #1. I can’t relate the two things. They’re just part of the pageant of life. I take my hat off to Sam and Twitch, though. They’ve stuck it out long enough to have their own Wikipedia entry. They’ve been drawn by great artists like Ashley Wood, Alex Maleev, and now Szymon Kudranski. In silhouette they kind of look like Drew and Varun as detectives. Varun’s leaving us in two weeks and we’ll miss them. Come by the shop and say good-bye while you have a chance.
Art: Marco Locati | Story: Kyle Higgins, Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi (Image Comics, $3.99) | FOC: 3/25
As Ramon tests the limits of his new abilities, the astronauts return to Janus for more assessment—and the world begins to react to the news of a real-life superhero.
Marco Locati Main Cover Erica D’Urso Variant Greg Tocchini Variant
Following the battle at the Ninja Funk Dojo and capture of BB, B.A.D. Music retreats to their headquarters at The Nexus. With the love of Lazerwolf’s life as irresistible bait, there’s no doubt in Queen B.A.D.’s mind that her nemeses will come knocking, and she’s ready for them…
Will Lazerwolf, JPG Mcfly and Wolfgang see the trap for what it is, or run headlong into disaster? Find out in Ninja Funk: B.A.D. Music #1!
David Mack Main Cover Alessandro Micelli Variant Tyler Kirkham Variant
SLASH PRESENTS: DEATHSTALKER #1
Art: Jim Terry | Story: Slash, Tim Seeley, Steven Kostanski (Vault Comics, $4.99) | FOC: 3/24
The cult-classic warrior-hero Deathstalker bursts into the comics scene from an all-star lineup of creators including Slash (Guns N’ Roses) and writer-director-creature-FX-wizard Steven Kostanski (Psycho Goreman, The Void)! Deathstalker finds himself once again caught between forces larger than himself—a virgin worshiping cult, a sorcerer hell-bent on saving the world through mad science, and the pissed-off army of the Abraxeon kingdom… not to mention his ex-lover, Princess Evie. Monsters, magic, and mayhem abound… can’t a guy just swing his sword anymore?
Nathan Gooden Main Cover Jim Terry Variant Conor Boyle Variant John Patrick Ganas Variant Dan Panosian Variant Boris Vallejo Variant Angela Wu Variant Boris Vallejo/Slash Signed Variant (Allocations May Occur)
Welcome back to There’s Always Next Week, my weekly feature that hasn’t been posted in a few weeks! I did my best to keep it up, but between putting up all of the March 2024 pre-orders and shipping out an overwhelming amount of books (thank you all so much for trusting us with your orders!), I haven’t been able to get back to it the way I hoped. I’ve shuffled around my work week so that I have more time to write this, so going forward we should be weekly again. And if I do have to miss one for whatever reason, I’ll keep my head up, tweak the formula and try again. After all… There’s Always Next Week!
Before we delve too far into next week’s releases, I want to share the news that starting with all May-shipping titles, you can save 10% on all pre-orders (except for special order items) with our Early Bird Discount. The discount lasts through final order cut-off, after which titles can only be purchased at full price, so order early! The expiration date for each title’s discount can be found at the bottom of its product entry.
BATMAN/SUPERMAN: WORLD’S FINEST #25 (DAN MORA WILLIAM SHATNER CAMEO VARIANT)
Art: Dan Mora, Steve Pugh | Story: Mark Waid (DC Comics, $5.99)
I’ve never spotlighted a specific variant of a title before, but Batman/Superman: World’s Finest found an interesting niche for itself a few years ago when someone realized that Dan Mora can draw flattering pictures of elderly Boomer celebrities that are still true to the way they look now in their dotage. He did it first with Jerry Seinfeld early in the run, and then later drew a fun Christmas cover featuring Paul McCartney singing karaoke with Superman, a character who I suspect has Spotify’s This Is Matchbox 20 playlist on repeat at all times. Now here’s William Shatner, drawn unmistakably as himself in old age, taking a momentary pause from posting wrongheaded observations on social media to look commanding next to Superman and Batman. I predict this cover will become the basis of future caption contests in which the text of Superman’s speech bubble is replaced with things like, “Green Lantern, remember when you said the only book you ever finished was Tekworld?” Send your best caption to admin@ashavecomics.com and I’ll send you a special discount code.
PRE-ORDER IT: Dan Mora William Shatner Cameo Variant
With Skybound’s Transformers and associated Energon Universe proving to be big successes, Oni Press and the Nacelle Toy Company™ have dug deep into the toybox and come up with a bunch of old favorites sure to have many 80s kids saying, “I think my cousin had one of those.” I was kind of tickled when I saw they were doing this. Top-billed Robo Force is obviously the star property here, and most people upon seeing that name again will be thinking, “What the hell is Robo Force?” I remember having one or two of these guys and they were great. They were these kind of Robbie the Robot-looking characters and the gimmick was that you would stick them on something, push a button on top of their heads, and they would suction to the surface. They all looked like household appliances from The Jetsons and were predictably trounced by the likes of Transformers and Go-Bots. I liked the ones I had though. I always used them as things like space librarians when the Transformers and Go-Bots and Voltron needed information for some kind of quest, or space waiters when they needed to go somewhere to eat. Robo Force were kind of your average-Joe workaday robots. The Sectaurs I never liked, because they were gross bug guys out of some nightmare and I wanted no part of them. I knew a kid who had a Sectaurs creature that was a giant fly that haunts me to this day. The Biker Mice from Mars I remember a little bit as one of the cartoons that was marooned on Sunday morning during church, so it always seemed like a treat to get to watch it when I got to stay home sick even if I didn’t really like it. They were TMNT clones, I think. Power Lords and The Great Garloo are things I have never heard of in my life. If this Nacelleverse thing goes down the tubes, they’ll probably get blamed. But it’s the Sectaurs, I tell you. They’re horrible.
PRE-ORDER IT: Marco D’Alfonso Main Cover | Logan Lubera Variant | InHyuk Lee Variant | Livio Ramondelli Variant | Blank Sketch Variant
I’m not a person who’s given to cry very much, and only one comic has ever gotten me to tear up: We3, by Frank Quitely and Grant Morrison, about a cat, a dog, and a bunny rabbit who escape a lab where they’re being turned into cybernetic war machines and try to find their way home. Even thinking about those little guys gets me choked up. Now here comes Man’s Best by Jesse Lonergan and Pornsak Pichetshote, and I already have the feeling I’ll need to read this series late at night after my wife falls asleep so that no human eyes witness the single manly tear roll down my cheek while I read about these four-legged friends fighting for their lives in heavily-armed mech suits. I have a good feeling about this series.
Since losing the Star Wars license (mostly), Dark Horse has made a good go of things by pursuing video game adaptations. Dawnrunner sounds like an adaptation of a video game that hasn’t been made yet. The plot is kind of a re-hash of Pacific Rim (no bad thing, I love Pacific Rim) with an Incan twist. Humans piloting giant robots vs. giant monsters. The big draw here to me is Evan Cagle’s art, which looks like it has the right amount of mechanical detail without becoming overwhelming. Looking forward to this.
PRE-ORDER IT: Evan Cagle Main Cover | Matias Bergara Variant
Art: George Kambadais | Story: Elliott Kalan (Dynamite Entertainment, $4.99) | FOC: 3/18
THE CHAMPION OF OLYMPUS RETURNS!
The Greek gods don’t really get why Hercules chose a mortal life over the opportunity to join them on Mt. Olympus, but since he proved his mettle as a hero many times over, they’re happy to enlist his help with missions that require interventions in the earthly realm. So when Aphrodite grants an artist’s wish that his sculpture be brought to life, Herc gets the call to clean things up when the newly conscious artwork proves to be more bone-crushingly lively than expected!
But after discovering that the rogue statue is just misunderstood, and a little rambunctious (much like himself as a youth), Hercules returns to explain the situation to Aphrodite – only to find her temple empty and abandoned. Is the goddess of love just pouting, or is something more sinister afoot? If you know anything about classic mythology, you know it’s going to be the latter!
Art: Marco Locati | Story: Kyle Higgins, Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi (Image Comics, $3.99) | FOC: 3/18
As Ramon tests the limits of his new abilities, the astronauts return to Janus for more assessment—and the world begins to react to the news of a real-life superhero.
Marco Locati Main Cover Erica D’Urso Variant Greg Tocchini Variant
Art: Dave Wachter | Story: Tony Fleecs (Boom! Studios, $4.99) | FOC: 3/18
Oliver is a seemingly typical 12 year old boy… except for a mysterious family history that seems to start and end with his mother, and unexplainable powers, that is.
He can do things other boys can’t, to the point of landing him in some trouble. Baffled by the surreal cartoonish nature of his abilities and followed by a murder of peculiar crows, the mystery behind Oliver’s family history finally unfolds!
Written by fan-favorite writer Tony Fleecs (Stray Dogs, Local Man) and illustrated by acclaimed artist Dave Wachter (Punisher, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), discover what makes Oliver special and strange as he searches for his place in the world.
