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

There’s Always Next Week: March 22, 2024

Posted on March 22, 2024 | by Paul

_{by Paul}

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

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

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

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)

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)

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

There’s Always Next Week: February 9, 2023

Posted on February 9, 2024 | by Paul

_{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)

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

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

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)

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)

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

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

Cobra Commander kicking a dog | AshAveComics.com

There’s Always Next Week: January 12, 2024

Posted on January 12, 2024 | by Paul

_{by Paul}

With the overwhelming, three-roll blockbuster¹ success of last week’s Ultimate Spider-Man #1, what lessons will Marvel take away? Was it the beard (not Mary Jane, the beard of hair on his face)? Will bearded superheroes become the next hot trend in comics? Sure, you’ve seen Batman fight the Joker a million times… but you’ve never seen him do it with a beard! Be on the lookout for the first bearded cover appearance of your favorite characters and get ready to sit on them until Key Collector sounds the Slab Alert. In the meantime… there’s always next week!

AVENGERS: TWILIGHT #1

Art: Daniel Acuña | Story: Chip Zdarsky (Marvel Comics, $5.99)

In the weird world of tomorrow’s Marvel Universe, an aging but still clean-shaven Steve Rogers (who would definitely have been drawn with a beard if this had been commissioned a few months later) struggles to find his place in a world that hates and fears him. (TBD if anyone calls him out for this mutant appropriation.) The preview I read looks like an Old Man Logan-style story crossed with the mall scene from Minority Report, so who knows where it will lead? There’s a lot of buzz around this book because readers are hip to Chip and Alex Ross is providing covers, so get in on the ground floor here at Ash Ave Comics.

JOHN CONSTANTINE: HELLBLAZER—DEAD IN AMERICA #1

Art: Aaron Campbell | Story: Si Spurrier (DC Comics, $4.99)

I didn’t realize until I went to fetch the updated cover art with the trade dress that this was a Sandman Universe thing. No doubt DC is hewing to the comics industry superstition, dating back to the 20s (when Krazy Kat Presents: World of Krazy Kat—Mrs. Kwakk Wakk’s Revenge [The Death of Officer Pupp] bombed and tanked the circulation of dozens of Hearst papers), that a book with three titles is box office but a book with four titles is commercial suicide. Campbell and Spurrier bring John Constantine here to America to tell us what’s what (or, more accurately, wot’s wot) and rub elbows with some of his Vertigo buddies from the old days like Sandman and Swamp Thing. They had the magic (or should I say magick) touch with Hellblazer a few years ago so it seems a cinch they’ll do it again.

PRE-ORDER IT: Aaron Campbell Main Cover | Jock Variant | ~~Sean Phillips Variant~~

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG: FANG THE HUNTER #1

Art: Mauro Fonseca | Story: Ian Flynn (IDW Publishing, $3.99)

I was a Nintendo kid so I only ever played Sonic the Hedgehog when I went to visit my cousin, who was brand-loyal to Sega for one reason or another and had both the Sega Master System and the Genesis. It was always like visiting a parallel universe where the guy who invented Super Mario went into greeting cards or something instead, setting in motion a chain of events leading to Sega dominating the earth. I relate this to you because the only two things I know about Sonic the Hedgehog are that my cousin had his game (and I was terrible at it), and we sell the 1:10 Sonic incentive cover every month like clockwork. There is a dedicated audience for this series, and if you’re part of it, we at Ash Avenue Comics salute you. This Fang the Hunter spin-off bills itself as “the first Classic-era Sonic the Hedgehog miniseries from IDW” (which I take to mean it’s related to his Archie Comics days and stars a fedora-wearing jerboa, a thing I never heard of before that looks like a cute little pocket-sized kangaroo and is probably an absolute terror. Jerboas, your ship has come in.

PRE-ORDER IT: Aaron Hammerstrom Main Cover | Mark Hughes Variant | 1:10 Mauro Fonseca Variant

COLONIZED (ONE-SHOT)

Art: Drew Moss | Story: Chris Ryall (Image Comics, $9.99)

This caught my eye because it’s a spin-off of Zombies Vs. Robots, the Ashley Wood book that was written by Chris Ryall that I was really into about 15-20 years ago. This time it’s zombies vs. aliens, a struggle in which I don’t have any particular rooting interest (aliens, I guess), but it may be wise to read this in the event that a real-life zombie/alien conflict ever breaks out. I mean, knock on wood. I pray to god it never happens.

PRE-ORDER IT: Francesco Francavilla Main Cover

COBRA COMMANDER #1 (OF 5)

Art: Andrea Milana | Story: Joshua Williamson (Image Comics, $4.99)

For my money, Cobra Commander was the best comic book villain when I was a kid. Sure, maybe your Magnetos or your Doctor Dooms had more sympathetic back stories or convincing reasons for their evildoing, but they didn’t make me laugh. In supervillainy, as in so many other things, that goes a long way. He also features in one of my favorite comic panels of all time:

Now that is one evil chap. I have doubts that CC will be funny this time around. In fact, I suspect we’ll probably see him wreak some kind of sensational ultra-violence in the name of Seriousness and Sophistication. But all the other Energon Universe books have been winners so far to one degree or another, so this one deserves a look too.

JACKPOT #1

Art: Joey Vasquez | Story: Celeste Bronfman (Marvel Comics, $4.99)

Can we all be happy that Ultimate Spider-Man is here to band-aid that Spider-Man marriage wound for people? This way we get to see mainstream Mary Jane do stuff like this or Betty and Veronica around with Black Cat, while Ultimate Mary Jane can sit at home with the rolling pin when Spider-Man stays out too late or have Mary Worth-style subplots that interrupt the main action, which are the two things I remember her doing when I was a kid. Also, point of interest: Is writer Celeste Bronfman related to the Bronfman heiresses who were in the thick of the NXIVM cult we all read about in the news a few years ago? Is that a tasteless question to ask? I’m just saying, if she is, we might be seeing Mary Jane say and do some things we’ve never seen her say and do before. If you want my advice, my friends, you should buy this comic and find out.

PRE-ORDER IT: Pablo Villalobos Main Cover | Ejikure Jackpot Variant | Elizabeth Torque Variant | Nicoletta Baldari Variant

ON FOC THIS WEEK

THUNDERCATS #1

Art: Drew Moss | Story: Declan Shalvey (Dynamite Entertainment, $3.99) | FOC: 1/15

David Nakayama Main Cover
Lucio Parrillo Variant
Declan Shalvey Variant
Jae Lee Variant
Ivan Tao Variant
Action Figure Variant
David Nakayama Foil Variant
Lucio Parrillo Foil Variant
Thundercats Symbol Foil Gold Variant
Blank Authentix Variant
David Nakayama Foil Virgin Variant
Lucio Parrillo Foil Virgin Variant
Shalvey & Moss Signed Atlas Edition Variant
David Nakayama Metal Premium Variant
David Nakayama Limited Edition Virgin Variant

SPIDER-PUNK: ARMS RACE #1

Art: Justin Mason | Story: Cody Ziglar (Marvel Comics, $4.99) | FOC: 1/15

Takasi Okazaki Main Cover
Ian Bertram Foil Variant
Kaare Andrews Variant
Olivier Coipel Variant
Todd Nauck Windowshades Variant

MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: THE RETURN #1

Art: Nico Leon | Story: Amy Jo Johnson & Matt Hotson (Boom! Studios, $4.99) | FOC: 1/15

Goni Montes Main Cover
Dan Mora Variant
Dan Mora Unlockable Variant

A three-roll blockbuster is what we boys of the comics-by-mail game call a book for which we needed three rolls of packing tape to wrap up all the orders we shipped out. ↩︎

Ultimate Spider-Man 1 | Marvel Comics | AshAveComics.com

There’s Always Next Week: January 5, 2024

Posted on January 5, 2024 | by Paul

_{by Paul}

Careful observers of this site will have noted our halting efforts to create a weekly feature for the blog, but I think I’ve cracked the code this time! Welcome to There’s Always Next Week, the new feature where we look ahead to next week’s comics and also see which upcoming books are approaching Final Order Cut-Off on Sunday and Monday. What better place to start than with a look at the hot new Spider-Man title that’s got everyone all a-twitter (or all a-X, if you prefer)?

GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #1

Art: Iban Coello | Story: Cody Ziglar (Marvel Comics, $6.99)

But first, let’s talk about Giant-Size Spider-Man #1! Ha ha! That’s the kind of twist and turn you’ll be able to look forward to every week here at TANW. While Ultimate Spider-Man #1 may be the Marcia Brady to Giant-Size‘s Jan, this comic shouldn’t be overlooked. In the main feature, Son of Venom fails to see eye-to-eye with the People’s Favorite, Miles Morales, while the back-up is a re-print of Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man #22 by Brian Bendis and Sara Pichelli. Good value! You can hear writer Cody Ziglar cracking his knuckles here as a warm-up to February’s Spider-Punk: Arms Race #1, so if you’re excited for that, this makes a good appetizer.

PRE-ORDER IT: Bryan Hitch Main Cover | Alexander Lozano Variant | Dave Bardin Deadly Foes Variant

ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1

Art: Marco Checcetto | Story: Jonathan Hickman (Marvel Comics, $5.99)

Two things we know about the new 2024 model Ultimate Spider-Man: 1) He has a beard (not Mary Jane, an actual beard on his face) which is going to cause all kinds of static cling and chafing under the mask. 2) If I know Jonathan Hickman—and I think I do—there are going to be graphs. Glorious, glorious graphs. Rumor has it that we may be getting the Daily Bugle floor plan during this first story arc, but I’m taking a wait-and-see attitude so my heart doesn’t get broken. Again. This thing is already selling out here and it’s not even on the rack yet. Just because you have FOMO, it doesn’t mean you’re not missing out.

STAR WARS #42

Art: Steven Cummings | Story: Charles Soule (Marvel Comics, $4.99)

This is one of those things where it’s the first appearance of a character who may or may not become a mover and shaker in the wider Disney+ Star Wars universe, here in the form of a Sith woman sought out by Luke Skywalker so he can get the lowdown on some moves to take Darth Vader down a peg or two. I put it to you: Would a virginal young man with a lingering, thwarted sexual urge for his own sister somehow have trouble getting in touch with his dark side? That’s why he became a gross old hermit who tried to murder his nephew, people. Search your feelings; you know it to be true.

PRE-ORDER IT: Steven Segovia Main Cover | ~~Caspar Wijngaard Rebels 10th Anniversary Variant~~ | John Tyler Christopher Action Figure Variant | Logo Variant

DISNEY VILLAINS: CRUELLA DE VIL #1

Art: Miriana Puglia | Story: Sweeney Boo (Dynamite Entertainment, $3.99)

Alone amongst all Disney characters, I’ve always felt a great kinship with Cruella De Vil. Come to think of it, maybe that’s the reason I don’t get invited to parties at the homes of dog owners. Anyway, if you’re anything like me, you should give Disney Villains: Cruella De Vil #1 a look. It’s written by Sweeney Boo, and even if you’re not a fan of hers yet, you have to admit that it’s fun to say her name.

PRE-ORDER IT: Sweeney Boo Main Cover | Joshua Middleton Variant | Blank Authentix Variant

DEER EDITOR #1

Art: Sami Kivelä | Story: Ryan K. Lindsay (Mad Cave Studios, $4.99)

Sami Kivelä of Abbott fame draws this first issue of a murder mystery that entangles a hard-bitten newspaper editor. He’s also a giant talking deer. Get it? He’s a deer editor. It strikes me as a strange line of work for such a skittish creature to take up, but no doubt that’s my own prejudice talking. If this sounds like it’s up your alley, lock this book down now because we only ordered one copy.

PRE-ORDER IT: Sami Kivelä Main Cover

ON FOC THIS WEEK

Blasfamous 1 | DSTLRY | AshAveComics.com

MIRKA ANDOLFO’S BLASFAMOUS #1 (Of 3)

Art and story: Mirka Andolfo (DSTLRY, $8.99) | FOC: 1/7

Mirka Andolfo Main Cover
Mirka Andolfo Variant

POWER GIRL: UNCOVERED #1

Art: Various | Story: Brittany Holzherr (DC Comics, $5.99) | FOC: 1/7

Pablo Villalobos Main Cover
Dan Mora Variant
J. Scott Campbell Variant
Joshua Swaby Foil Variant

TMNT: The Last Ronin II—Re-Evolution | IDW Publishing | AshAveComics.com

TMNT: THE LAST RONIN II—RE-EVOLUTION #1

Art: Escorza Brothers | Story: Kevin Eastman (IDW Publishing, $8.99) | FOC: 1/8

Escorza Brothers Main Cover
Kevin Eastman Variant
Ben Bishop Variant
Luis Antonio Delgado Variant

Transformers 1 | Image Comics | AshAveComics.com

Weekly Shout-Out: October 5, 2023

Posted on October 5, 2023 | by Paul

by Paul

Cht-ch-ch-cht-cht. That’s how I spell out the noise they make when they transform. I share that with you because I trust you.

SPOTLIGHT TITLES

Transformers #1 (Image Comics)

Art and story by Daniel Warren Johnson

If, like me, you’re someone who has looked your spouse or partner dead in the eye and said, “No, these are not identical Optimus Prime figures. This one is painted like he was in the original cartoon, and this one has 25% darker colors to look like his 1990s ‘Generation 2’ toy” as if that explained everything or anything, you’ve probably already bought this comic. If you’re someone who finds the Transformers and their world to be a head-scratcher (fair enough), you should buy this comic, because Daniel Warren Johnson draws it with love, and finds some cool new twists on the visual language of classic Transformers that really sing. As someone who has read a lot of comics about Transformers (IDW’s More Than Meets the Eye/Lost Light run by Alex Milne and James Roberts is possibly my favorite comic of the last 10-15 years), I’ve seen them drawn by people who are good at drawing Transformers but dicey at drawing people and vice versa, but Johnson manages both here. He also writes and draws a great Starscream, the Daffy Duck of Transformers, giving him a page near the end of the issue to prove why he’s the universal favorite as he bitches about his lot in life while trashing public infrastucture. Even if you don’t like Transformers, I think you’ll like Daniel Warren Johnson’s Transformers. Check it out.

G.O.D.S. #1 (Marvel Comics)

Art by Valerio Schiti/Story by Jonathan Hickman

After wrapping up Ultimate Invasion last week, Jonathan Hickman teams up with Valerio Schiti to bring us G.O.D.S., a new series led by a character who looks so much like a fashionably made-over Dr. Strange that I spent a good chunk of this book thinking, “Is this guy not Dr. Strange?” Schiti and Hickman, evidently aware that this might be an issue for readers like me, make sure to establish that our raffish new hero is not Dr. Strange by showing him talking to Dr. Strange on page one of the story, and even then I spent about thirty pages thinking, “That’s Dr. Strange though.” But he is not Dr. Strange. He’s a new guy named Wyn who reads floating books, gestures theatrically to do magic things, has a streak of distinguished white in his hair, and wears a red coat that swirls animatedly about him as though it were a sort of red cape. We’ve never seen anything like him before. At least he’s good company through this extra-sized first issue, and he has good banter with his on-the-spectrum sidekick. This one is like one of those early Vertigo comics where marginalized misfits would do magick-with-a-k and talk to old, bored gods and quote Arthur Rimbaud, except this one has the Collector and Dr. Voodoo in it. One weird thing about this book is that even though it’s a 64-page Jonathan Hickman story, there is not a single graph. Where are the graphs? There’s a lot of jargon here and a good graph would help keep the players straight and they could also throw in the reason this book is called G.O.D.S. Well, I’m sure they’ll get around to it.

Abbott: 1979 #1 (Boom! Studios)

Art by Sami Kivelä/Story by Saladin Ahmed

It’s been a couple of years for us since we last saw hard-boiled, chain-smoking, magic-using investigative reporter Elena Abbott, but for her, it’s been six years, and things are not going great. It’s the end of the 70s and it’s tough all over—there’s a gas crisis, no one knows what to do about this hostage thing, Carter is blowing it right and left, and Japanese auto manufacturers are introducing economical, reliable cars to Americans, which is bad news for Abbott’s hometown of Detroit. Of course, society always has some extra curveballs for a Black woman, especially when she’s responsible for thwarting an occult conspiracy bent on taking over her city and then the world. This is the conclusion to the Abbott trilogy. If you’ve read the last two, you’ll know you’re in good hands, and if you haven’t, you should catch up at Ash Avenue Comics because we have both of the trades in stock.

AT A GLANCE

Clementine, Book Two (Image Comics)

Art and story by Tillie Walden

Plucky apocalypse survivor Clementine’s YA adventures continue as she adjusts to life after being rescued by an island community. But things are not what they seem. Things are about to get coco-nuts! Note: Don’t write to me if they don’t live on a tropical island. I haven’t read it yet. It just came out! I’m the guy who thought that guy was Dr. Strange!

Alice Cooper #1 (of 5) (Dynamite Entertainment)

Art by Edu Menna/Story by Rodney Barnes

Living legend of rock and Phoenix-area local treasure Alice Cooper returns to comics to take on the Devil himself, who is threatening to take his own band on tour to do I don’t know what. But the archangel Gabriel wants Alice to stop him. That’s right. What they condemn today they’ll embrace in 40 years. Is this in continuity with Marvel’s The Last Temptation of Alice comic from the 90s that Neil Gaiman wrote? If not, does that open the door to some kind of Crisis of Infinite Alices? I look forward to it.