Ash Avenue Comics

There’s Always Next Week: March 22, 2024

by Paul

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

There's Always Next Week: March 22, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

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

There's Always Next Week: March 22, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics
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 premiseโ€”an artistic girl comes into possession of a set of body paints that give the wearer superpowersโ€”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

There's Always Next Week: March 22, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

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.

There's Always Next Week: March 22, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

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 assessmentโ€”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

There's Always Next Week: March 22, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

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 themโ€ฆ

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

There's Always Next Week: March 22, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

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 Nโ€™ Roses) and writer-director-creature-FX-wizard Steven Kostanski (Psycho Goreman, The Void)! Deathstalker finds himself once again caught between forces larger than himselfโ€”a virgin worshiping cult, a sorcerer hell-bent on saving the world through mad science, and the pissed-off army of the Abraxeon kingdomโ€ฆ not to mention his ex-lover, Princess Evie. Monsters, magic, and mayhem aboundโ€ฆ canโ€™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)

Ash Avenue Comics

There’s Always Three Months from Now: February 16, 2024

by Paul

There’s Always Next Week needs a breather this week, so we’re going to the bullpen and bringing in its sister feature to throw some heat. Say hello to… There’s Always Three Months from Now! This is a semi-regular feature you’ll get to enjoy whenever a distributor’s new catalog comes out, typically on a Friday, the same day I write this column. I try to get all of the new catalogs up on the site the day they come out, which means spending the day hunched over the computer pouring over endless spreadsheets, much like Batman does in the Batcave. Yes, that is what he’s doing down there. They don’t dwell on it too much in the comics, but his greatest crimefighting tool is Microsoft Office. He uses Robin’s student I.D. to get a discount on the license. Just because he’s a billionaire doesn’t mean he’s not cheap.

Since I, like Batman, am buried up to my codpiece in spreadsheets, let’s use this opportunity to take a whirlwind tour of some of the exciting books you’ll be able to read in three months from DC, DSTLRY, Image, Magma Comix (?), and others. You can pre-order them now, here, on this very website! In fact, here’s a little secretโ€”don’t tell Drew thisโ€”but you can save 10% on purchases of $25.00 or more on all pre-FOC titles by using the code PREFOC10 at checkout. If you order $50.00 or more of pre-FOC, you can save 15% by using the code PREFOC15 at checkout. If you order $75.00 or more of pre-FOC, save 20% with the code PREFOC20. And at $100, you get free shipping! You can’t afford not to!

COMING IN MAY 2024

There's Always Three Months from Now: February 16, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

BATMAN: GARGOYLE OF GOTHAM #3 (OF 4) JAMIE HEWLETT VARIANT

How many money trucks did DC back up into Tank Girl and Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett’s driveway to get him to do this variant? I was stunned when I saw this. Has he done anything like this before? I don’t remember it if he did.

There's Always Three Months from Now: February 16, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

ONE FOR SORROW #1 (OF 3)

This is Jamie McKelvie’s new project from DSTLRY and I am psyched. Everything DSTLRY has published so far has been an amazing package, and we haven’t seen McKelvie stretch his wings like this in a while.

There's Always Three Months from Now: February 16, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

TOXIC SUMMER #1 (OF 3)

Derek Charm, who did some fun Archie stuff, brings us this new horror series from Oni that reminds me of one of those late-80s campy USA Up All Night horror movies, like Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-o-Rama. This one will be on my pull list.

There's Always Three Months from Now: February 16, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

GROMMETS #1 (OF 7)

Rick Remender’s team-up with Andy Samberg on The Holy Roller has worked out pretty well, so he’s decided to roll the dice with another chuckleheadโ€”Brian Posehn, this time, who is not a stranger to comicsโ€”for Grommets, a book about how kids were awesome 40 years ago compared to the sucky phonesters of today. That’s probably reductive. It’s an 80s coming-of-age tale. Love that cover.

There's Always Three Months from Now: February 16, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

THE BOY WONDER #1 (OF 5)

I was surprised to see thisโ€”it’s a kind of fairy-tale take on the Robin story by Juni Ba, whose Monkey Meat series from a couple years ago I really enjoyed. People love Robin. Any Robin. I think this will be very popular, with reach beyond the normal comics crowd.

There's Always Three Months from Now: February 16, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

THE SCALE TRADE #1

“In a modern-day world one step removed from our own,” reads the solicitation for The Scale Trade #1, “dragons are a highly respectedโ€”and highly endangeredโ€”species, but poaching is an existential threat.” That is a lot of steps removed from our world, Scale Trade makers! Dragons! I ask you. Megan Huang, who’s done some nice covers lately, teams up with Steve Orlando from Marvel’s Marauders here. Could be fun.

There's Always Next Week: January 26, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

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 knewโ€”and now you knowโ€”There’s Always Next Week!

There's Always Next Week: January 26, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

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 whileโ€”at least once, anywayโ€”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.

There's Always Next Week: January 26, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

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.

There's Always Next Week: January 26, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

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.

ON FOC THIS WEEK

There's Always Next Week: January 26, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

GHOST RIDER: FINAL VENGEANCE #1

Art: Danny Kim | Story: Benjamin Percy (Marvel Comics, $4.99) | FOC: 1/29

There's Always Next Week: January 26, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

SPAWN #350

Art: Brett Booth, Carlo Barberi | Story: Rory McConville, Todd McFarlane (Image Comics, $4.99) | FOC: 1/29

There's Always Next Week: January 26, 2024 - Ash Avenue Comics

WOMEN OF MARVEL (2024) #1

Art: Various | Story: Gail Simone et al (Marvel Comics, $5.99) | FOC: 1/29

Weekly Shout-Out… from ROBERT KIRKMAN!

Comics superstar Robert Kirkman took time out of his busy schedule to send us a personal message about Void Rivals #1, his exciting new title launching the ENERGON UNIVERSE! Thank you, Robert! (Thanks also to Kevin Bides at Skybound for helping to make it happen!) Watch his message below and follow the links to get your copy of Void Rivals #1 from Ash Ave before it sells out!

Void Rivals #1 Cvr A De Felici Void Rivals #1 Cvr B Young | Void Rivals #1 Cvr C 10 Copy Incv Scalera | Void Rivals #1 Cvr D 25 Copy Incv Darboe | Void Rivals #1 Cvr E 50 Copy Incv Cheung | Void Rivals #1 Cvr F Blank Sketch Cvr

Weekly Shout-Out: May 30, 2023 - Ash Avenue Comics

Weekly Shout-Out: May 30, 2023

by Drew Sullivan

SPOTLIGHT TITLES

W0rldtr33 #2 (Image) from Jam3$ Tยฅn10n, F3rnand0 B1anc0, and Jordie Bellaire (I lost the enthusiasm for the numbers as letters gag halfway through Fernando Blanco). Holy smokes, what a nightmare factory James Tyrion IVโ€™s imagination, churning out all types of terror and fright in Something is Killing the Children, The Closet, and Department of Truth; and now in his latest W0rldtr33, the underbelly of the underbelly of the internet, the undernet has loosed a force of violence as memetic spectacle on the earth. Great, like people using the internet for evil wasnโ€™t bad enough? First rate horror from Tyrion, Blanco, and Bellaire returns this week, check it!

Clobberinโ€™ Time #3 (Marvel) from Steve Skroce. Call me nuts, but I prefer my Marvel Comics a little unhinged, so Iโ€™m an easy mark when it comes to Marvel handing the keys to their Marvel Two-in-One team up title to comic visionary Steve Skroce.ย  You get The Thing, in this issue joined by Dr. Strange, and a lot of weird story turns, and insane art by Stroke. Perfection! I also highly recommend Skroceโ€™s Doc Frankenstein, Post Americana, and Maestro; and, yโ€™know, he and Geof Darrow were the designers of the first Matrix film, so dude has his chops on some mind bending sci-fi visuals.

Amazing Spider-Man #26 (Marvel) from Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr. I figure thereโ€™s been enough digital ink (and blood) spilled regarding this issue over the last few weeks, so Iโ€™ll keep it short and simple. We have copies.

The Rocketeer Special (IDW): An anthology issue of three short stories timed to release with the new documentary on Rocketeer creator Dave Stevens, Dave Stevens: Drawn to Perfection, including a story written by the filmโ€™s director. And of course, thereโ€™s the cover art by Adam Hughes. Great cover, and some fun Rocketeer stories? Sounds good.

AT A GLANCE

Weekly Shout-Out: May 30, 2023 - Ash Avenue Comics
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures Continued #1

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures #1 (IDW): Get your 80s nostalgia satiated with another mini-series relishing the carefree cartoons of yesteryear.

Punisher #12 (Marvel): Jason Aaron and Jesus Saizโ€™s run on the olโ€™ Punny comes to an end, will Frank Castle stick it to the Hand? Maria Castle is resurrected? Ares, the god of War was up in here too? It all comes to an end this issue, wrapped up and tied with a bloodstained bow by messrs Aaron and Saiz.

DC Pride 2023 and Power Girl Special (DC): DCโ€™s big releases this week also serve a reminder that this month has a 5 Wednesday release so the publishers usually spread releases out and add some annuals or event books. So, DC fans, in light of the sparse slate from DC, look to these titles for some new stories, including a short story in DC Pride from Grant Morrison.