Feral 1 | Image Comics | AshAveComics.com | Feral Image Comics

There’s Always Next Week: March 22, 2024

by Paul

Tough week for Bill SkarsgÃ¥rd, 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, SkarsgÃ¥rd 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 SkarsgÃ¥rd 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 SkarsgÃ¥rd! Though today you may be tempest-toss’d by life’s YouTube commentors… There’s Always Next Week!

Feral 1 | Image Comics | AshAveComics.com

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

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.

PRE-ORDER IT: Gretel Lusky Main Cover

Sam and Twitch: Case Files 1 | Image Comics | AshAveComics.com

SAM AND TWITCH: CASE FILES #1

Art: Szymon Kudranski | Story: Todd McFarlane (Image Comics, $2.99)

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.

PRE-ORDER IT: Kevin Keane Main Cover

ON FOC THIS WEEK

Click here to see all titles on FOC this week.

Moon Man 2 | Image Comics | AshAveComics.com

MOON MAN #2

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

Ninja Funk: B.A.D. Music #1 (Of 4) | Massive/Whatnot | AshAveComics.com

NINJA FUNK: B.A.D. MUSIC #1 (OF 4)

Art: Alessandro Micelli | Story: JPG (Massive/Whatnot, $4.99) | FOC: 3/25

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

Deathstalker 1 (Of 3) | Vault Comics | AshAveComics.com

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)

Batman: Superman: World's Finest 25 | DC Comics | AshAveComics.com | Batman Superman William Shatner

There’s Always Next Week: March 15, 2024

by Paul

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 | DC Comics | AshAveComics.com | Batman Superman William Shatner

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

Nacelleverse #0 | Oni Press | AshAveComics.com

NACELLEVERSE #0

Art: Diogenese Neves, Francis Portela, Rahmat Handoka, Rhoald Marcellius | Story: Melissa Flores (Oni Press, $5.99)

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

Man's Best 1 (Of 5) | Boom! Studios | AshAveComics.com

MAN’S BEST #1

Art: Jesse Lonergan | Story: Pornsak Pichetshote (Boom! Studios, $4.99)

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.

PRE-ORDER IT: Jesse Lonergan Main Cover | Trish Forstner Variant | Jae Lee FOC Reveal Variant

Dawnrunner 1 | Dark Horse Comics | AshAveComics.com

DAWNRUNNER #1

Art: Evan Cagle | Story: Ram V (Dark Horse Comics, $4.99)

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

ON FOC THIS WEEK

Click here to see all titles on FOC this week.

Hercules 1 | Dynamite Entertainment | AshAveComics.com

HERCULES #1

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!

GET READY FOR A WHOLE NEW HERO’S JOURNEY!

George Kambadais Main Cover
Matteo Lolli Variant
Francesco Tomaselli Variant
Alessandro Ranaldi Negative Space Variant
George Kambadais Foil Variant
George Kambadais Foil Virgin Variant
Blank Authentix Variant
Francesco Tomaselli Limited Edition Virgin Variant
Matteo Lolli Metal Premium Variant

Moon Man 2 | Image Comics | AshAveComics.com

MOON MAN #2

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

Uncanny Valley 1 | Boom! Studios | AshAveComics.com

UNCANNY VALLEY #1

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.

Dave Wachter Main Cover
Tony Fleecs Variant

Sinister Sons 1 (Of 6) | DC Comics | AshAveComics.com

There’s Always Next Week: February 9, 2023

by Paul

We offer this statement on behalf of the Overwhelmingly White Comics Retailers of America (O.W.C.R.A. for short. How’s that for irony?) : We really blew it when it came to ordering Ultimate Black Panther #1. There was an appetite for this comic and local comic shops slept on it. Drew probably ordered twice as many copies as most retailers and it still was not nearly enough. Mea culpa. Final order cut-off for the second print of UBP #1 is Monday night, and we’ll order accordingly, but if you want to be absolutely sure to get your copy, or copies, please place your orders before then (links are at the bottom of the page as well). In the meantime, we can’t promise this situation will never happen again, but we can promise we’ll sure as hell try harder to anticipate demand from all corners. We had some Ultimate egg on our faces this week, but we’ll learn the lesson and try to do better, because… There’s Always Next Week!

Sinister Sons 1 (Of 6) | DC Comics | AshAveComics.com

SINISTER SONS #1 (OF 6)

Art: David Lafuente | Story: Peter J. Tomasi (DC Comics, $3.99)

I thought this was a nice one to highlight for Valentine’s Day because it’s about Sinestro’s son doing stuff. Sinestro’s son. He found a woman to have his baby. He has a grown-up daughter, too! So it happened twice, decades apart. Please please please let it be consensually, or I’ll get such mail. (I read his and his daughter’s Wikipedia pages and the word “wife” got thrown around a lot, so I think I’m on safe ground here. But I’ll take my medicine if I need to.) There are a lot of strikes against him. He has poorly-judged facial hair. He has a face like an old catcher’s mitt, at least on this cover. If he’s not neurodivergent, no one is. His name is Sinestro. “I can’t put my finger on it, Sinestro, but sometimes I feel like you don’t have my best interests at heart.” But there was still someone out there for him. You just have to keep putting yourself out there, like I assume Sinestro did. I really hope it’s not a gross story, how he had his kids. I just remembered Geoff Johns wrote a lot of Sinestro stuff and now I have beads of sweat breaking out on my forehead. But I’m at least confident that David Lafuente and Peter J. Tomasi won’t mention anything like that in this book. They’ve both carved out niches for themselves doing these kinds of kid-hero stories, so we should be in good hands here.

PRE-ORDER IT: Brad Walker Main Cover | Dan Mora Variant | Jamal Campbell Variant | Pete Woods Two-Kids-in-a-Trenchcoat Acetate Variant | 1:25 V Ken Marion & Danny Miki Variant

Night Thrasher 1 | Marvel Comics | AshAveComics.com

NIGHT THRASHER #1

Art: Nelson Daniel | Story: J Holtham (Marvel Comics, $4.99)

This week Marvel welcomes back Night Thrasher, a character best known for recklessly causing the fiery deaths of hundreds of innocent people, including a busload of schoolchildren, in pursuit of footage for a reality television series. If I so much as accidentally cut off a schoolbus in traffic, I would agonize over it for weeks because something bad might have happened. I guess that’s why I’m not a hero.

I mean, you would imagine the loved ones of all the people burnt to a crisp that day, upon hearing that Night Thrasher is back on the streets with no supervision or accountability, would say, “Excuse me. Can we re-visit this Registration idea again?” For that matter, it’s hard to imagine they would ever stop. That’s the problem with doing a story like Civil War. For it to work, after months or years of anonymous masked lunatics fighting amongst themselves, causing incalculable amounts of property damage and probably loss of life, the everyday citizens of the Marvel Universe, like a dog who’s been blinded in one eye, all have to look at each other and say, “Well, I guess this is just our lives now,” when the status quo is restored. As if they would have nothing to say about it.

It’s crazy that Night Thrasher—who died in that explosion, let’s remember—was brought back to life at all. Other Marvel superheroes went to a lot of trouble to bring him back. Time travel, all sorts of things. What about everyone else who died in that explosion? I assume they’re all still dead. So Night Thrasher deserves to live and they don’t? Maybe this series will reveal that all the civilians who died were psychopaths who murdered their families at the breakfast table that morning, so actually, it’s a good thing they were all killed. I mean, what in the world.

It’s Black History Month, of course, and this book is likely timed for release with that in mind. But even though there aren’t nearly as many Black superheroes as there ought to be, there are still more than there used to be—enough, anyway, that it might have been better to let one with Night Thrasher’s baggage rest.

PRE-ORDER IT: Alan Quah Main Cover | Mark Bagley Homage Variant | Tradd Moore Variant

If You Find This, I'm Already Dead 1 | Dark Horse Comics | AshAveComics.com

IF YOU FIND THIS, I’M ALREADY DEAD #1

Art: Dan McDaid | Story: Matt Kindt (Dark Horse Comics, $7.99)

I single out this one because it has my favorite title of this week’s releases (rivalled only by Sweetie: Candy Vigilante Vol. 2, disqualified on the grounds that we didn’t order any copies) and because it’s a non-standard trim size (about 8″ x 11″ from the look of it). I am a big mark for comics in weird sizes, which can appear anywhere at anytime in my house because I have no clue where to put them. If You Can Find This, I’m Already Dead has a cool premise about an embedded war reporter who has to fend for herself in some kind of sci-fi setting after the unit she covers is wiped out. It sounds like one of those cool oversized Epic Comics GNs I used to pick up for cheap in high school and read to death. Dan McDaid’s cartooning has a cool, inky Paul Pope kind of line that I really respond to. Looking forward to this one.

PRE-ORDER IT: Dan McDaid Main Cover

The Displaced 1 (Of 5) | Boom! Studios | AshAveComics.com

THE DISPLACED #1 (OF 5)

Art: Luca Casalanguida | Story: Ed Brisson (Boom! Studios, $7.99)

The Displaced explores what happens when all traces of evidence that survivors of a missing Canadian town exist vanish. Spoilers: It suuuuucks. Say good-bye to your budding influencer career, because you are never getting those followers back. Say good-bye to talking about your budding influencer career to anybody, because everyone who humors you because they love you doesn’t remember you anymore. Tik Tok doesn’t remember what you like so you keep getting fed clips of people with affectionate lizards. The HBO Max works about the same, though.

PRE-ORDER IT: Luca Casalanguida Main Cover | Declan Shalvey Unlockable Variant

ON FOC THIS WEEK

Click here to see all titles on FOC this week.

Ultimate Black Panther 1 | Marvel Comics | AshAveComics.com | Ultimate Black Panther 1 2nd print

ULTIMATE BLACK PANTHER #1 (SECOND PRINTING)

Art: Stefano Caselli | Story: Bryan Hill (Marvel Comics, $5.99) | FOC: 2/12

R.B. Silva Main Cover

Night People 1 (Of 4) | Oni Press | AshAveComics.com

NIGHT PEOPLE #1 (OF 4)

Art: Brian Level | Story: Barry Gifford, Chris Condon (Oni Press, $4.99) | FOC: 2/11

J.H. Williams III Main Cover
Joelle Jones Variant
Jacob Phillips Variant
Brian Level Variant

Torpedo 1972 1 | Ablaze Publishing | AshAveComics.com

TORPEDO 1972 #1

Art: Eduardo Risso | Story: Enrique Sánchez Abulí (Ablaze Publishing, $3.99) | FOC: 2/12

Eduardo Risso Main Cover
Dan Panosian Variant
Fritz Casas Godfather Homage Variant
Blank Variant

Ultimate Black Panther 1 | Marvel Comics | AshAveComics.com | Ultimate Black Panther 1 preorder

There’s Always Next Week: February 2, 2024

by Paul

What with getting all the February pre-orders up and having some overdue dental work done, it’s an abbreviated column this week, so I don’t have time to cook up a punchy intro for you like I would have liked, but hey… THERE’S ALWAYS NEXT WEEK!

Ultimate Black Panther 1 | Marvel Comics | AshAveComics.com | Ultimate Black Panther 1 preorder

ULTIMATE BLACK PANTHER #1

Art: Stefano Caselli | Story: Bryan Hill (Marvel Comics, $5.99)

I find myself in a bit of a sticky wicket here when it comes to Ultimate Black Panther #1. On the one hand, it’s the hot book everyone wants to get their hands on next week. On the other, we’ve already sold all of the copies we set aside for the website. Which was a bunch. So I ask you: Is it fair, is it just, to dangle this coveted title over your heads only to snatch it away like the drug pusher on a Very Special Episode of an 80s sitcom? What to do? After all, it’s Black History Month, dammit, and to not acknowledge this latest commercial triumph put on the board by the good technocrats of Wakanda would be a tragic oversight.

Fortunately, Marvel has bailed us out somewhat by already going back to press with a second printing of this issue which is still available to order. Issue #2 and #3 are still available as well, so there’s no need to be discouraged if you can’t find #1 this week. Stefano Caselli and Bryan Hill have a lot of exciting stuff in store for this series, including the first appearance of Ultimate Storm next issue. This Ultimate Marvel train looks set to roll for awhile (don’t forget that Ultimate X-Men #1 is on FOC this weekend), so buckle up and try to get an aisle seat, because you’ll have to go to the bathroom sooner or later.

PRE-ORDER IT: Stefano Caselli Main Cover | Bosslogic Ultimate Special Variant | Karen S. Darboe Variant | Travel Forman Variant | R.B. Silva Second Printing Variant

Thundercats 1 (2024) | Dynamite Entertainment | AshAveComics.com

THUNDERCATS #1

Art: Drew Moss | Story: Declan Shalvey (Dynamite Entertainment, $3.99)

Further developing our cat theme this week, here’s Thundercats. Three things I know about the Thundercats: 1) Like many boys and a smattering of girls my age, Cheetara awakened something in me in that first episode. 2) The paint on my Lion-O figure, the only Thundercats toy I had, rubbed off instantly and probably stunted me developmentally in some crucial way. 3) My wife, Bee Gee, always yells “SNARF SNARF SNARF” whenever our cat Monchichi runs into the kitchen to ask for dinner, and if you played a sound clip of the character from the cartoon I don’t think you would know the difference. She has accessed the Snarf Within.

They say that every writer has one great Thundercats story to tell, and Declan Shalvey is no exception, so let’s see where this goes, eh?

PRE-ORDER IT: David Nakayama Main Cover | Lucio Parrillo Variant | Declan Shalvey Variant | Jae Lee Variant | Ivan Tao Variant | David Nakayama Foil Variant | Thundercats Symbol Gold Foil Variant | Blank Authentix Variant

ON FOC THIS WEEK

Click here to see all titles on FOC this week.

Ultimate Spider-Man 1 Sara Pichelli 3rd Printing Variant | Marvel Comics | AshAveComics.com

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1 (3RD PRINTING)

Art: Marco Checchetto | Story: Jonathan Hickman (Marvel Comics, $5.99) | FOC: 2/5

Sara Pichelli Main Cover

Somna 3 (Of 3) | DSTLRY | AshAveComics.com

SOMNA #3 (OF 3)

Art: Becky Cloonan, Tula Lotay | Story: Becky Cloonan, Tula Lotay (DSTLRY, $8.99) | FOC: 2/4

Becky Cloonan Main Cover
Tula Lotay Variant

Moon Man 1 | Image Comics | AshAveComics.com | Kid Cudi Comic | Kid Cudi Moon Man

There’s Always Next Week: January 26, 2024

by Paul

With last week’s bizarre feeding frenzy on the widely-mocked John Cassaday X-Force #48 variant, are we now on the cusp of a bizarre new trend in comics? Will we see publishers encourage artists to draw poorly on purpose to command attention from social media commentators and speculators? Will we see a new class of outsider artists become the kings and queens of the variant cover scene, drawing ludicrous rates for childlike renderings of beloved characters? Will we all have sobering moments of self-reckoning and reflection should we find out John Cassaday or one of his loved ones has had a catastrophic health crisis? Can we all come to grips with the simple idea that even the greatest artist might lay an egg now and then, which is why no one ever performs William Shakespeare’s King John? Shakespeare didn’t let it get him down, and neither will John Cassaday, because they knew—and now you know—There’s Always Next Week!

MOON MAN #1

Art: Marco Locati | Story: Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi, Kyle Higgins (Image Comics, $3.99)

Recording artists venturing into comics have a checkered history. Sometimes you get a weird misfire like the Evanescence comic from a year or two back where it was a series of, I think, short pieces illustrating song lyrics that were like comic adaptations of music videos, only without the music. Or the video. Sometimes you get goofy junk-food comics where the likes of Twiztid battle ghouls and ghosts armed with nothing but sick, sick rhymes. Once in a while—at least once, anyway—you get an acknowledged classic like Umbrella Academy. But for the most part, you’d no more want to read a musician’s vanity comic than you’d want to listen to an album called John Byrne Sings The Carpenters.

Happily, though, Moon Man, Kid Cudi’s new series from Image, looks poised to land on the Umbrella Academy end of the spectrum. Even though it’s clearly a vanity project, starring as it does a character who looks just like Cudi and shares Cudi’s middle name of Ramon, this is clearly a story he’s had gestating for a long time (he’s recorded three separate albums called Man on the Moon). He’s helped by comics pros who are really executing here, particularly Marco “Kid Cati” Locati, whose pacing and scratchy linework capture a creeping sense of dread that reminds me of Ted McKeever. I have feeling that this is a series we’ll remember when it’s time to make Best of 2024 lists. Off to a good start here.

PRE-ORDER IT: Marco Locati Main Cover | Erica D’Urso Variant | Rod Reis Variant

Jill and the Killers 1 | Oni Press | AshAveComics.com

JILL AND THE KILLERS #1

Art: Roberta Ingranata | Story: Olivia Cuartero-Briggs (Oni Press, $6.99)

Jill and the Killers is about teenage girls who are playing one of those catch-a-killer subscription games that are always being advertised on those soul-eroding true-crime podcasts I shouldn’t be listening to all the time, but they’re just so interesting. Then they slowly begin to realize that the game is… ALL TOO REAL.

This is one of my favorite premises for a new series that I’ve heard for a long time. It’s a little bit like Only Murders in the Building if it had been made by people who hadn’t exhausted all of their real-life experience decades ago. Also, I love love love the Jill and the Killers logo. There are very few logos right now in comics that I would want a sticker of to put on my laptop or my bullet journal, and this one is at the top of the list. I have a good feeling about this book. It’s sticker-worthy.

PRE-ORDER IT: Sanya Anwar Main Cover | Marguerite Sauvage Variant | Alison Sampson Variant

Sirens of the City 6 | Boom! Studios | AshAveComics.com

SIRENS OF THE CITY #6

Art: Khary Randolph | Story: Joanne Starer (Boom! Studios, $4.99)

If you haven’t been reading Sirens of the City I don’t know why you would start with this final issue, but I’ve been kicking myself because I forgot to put it on my Best of 2023 list so I wanted to mention it here. This is a storytelling masterclass from Khary Randolph, for my money the best cartoonist working today. This book throws a lot of characters at you fast, but Randolph stages the action so that it’s always clear who’s doing what and where. The visual conceit of this book is that it’s in black and white, but each faction of supernatural characters has their own spot color, and when they all start mixing together with Randolph’s strong blacks it’s a beautiful thing to behold.

#6 may not be where you want to jump in, but fortunately you can pre-order the collected edition here. In fact, I’m such a believer in this book that, now through February 12, we’ll sell it to you at a discount of $16.99, $3.00 off the cover price. Take a chance on this one.

PRE-ORDER IT: Khary Randolph Main Cover | Vanesa R. Del Rey Variant | Collected Edition

ON FOC THIS WEEK

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