The Gosh! Authority 01.05.24

Hello!

FCBD is upon us! Get your butts down here on Saturday for workshops, events and free comics as we celebrate Comic Shop Christmas!

From 10am - 1pm will be our ever-popular kids drawing table with the usual hour-long slots featuring different guests. Sadly Alexis Deacon won't be able to make it after all for the 11-12 slot, but it's still a great line-up! Get the details here.

Then from 1pm - 2pm we've got Hilda creator Luke Pearson in to sign his books (including a zine collection of his early works we're publishing just for the occasion!) Details here.

At 2pm - 3pm we welcome legendary Guardian cartoonists Tom Gauld and Chris Riddell for a signing! Details here.

And to cap off the day we have a signing with an awesome trio of Kieron Gillen, Dan Watters and Ben Wheatley! Details here. 

Enough events for you? Not for us! We've got Emma Farrarons and Charlie Castle here on Wednesday, 7-9pm, to launch their new children's book My Hair Is As Long As A River. Details here.

And then for a total change of pace, we have a signing on Thursday, 6-7pm, with Frater Walpurgis, Doombag, Mutartis and Jason Atomic, the contributors to Gore Bore press anthology Sloppy Slopes. Details here.

Still not enough? Well, that's all we've got, but our friends at the Comica London Comics Festival have a panel event on Friday evening from 7pm at the Century Club! Nothing Like the First Time sees Woodrow Phoenix in conversation with Denise Dorrance, Carol Adlam and Leo Fox about their experiences in creating and publishing their debut graphic novels. Should be a fascinating conversation! You can also say hi to Greg, who'll be there selling books. Get the details here.

"But Andrew," you say, "I don't want free comics! Let me pay you some heard earned cash for some hard bought entertainment." Don't worry, folks, I've got you sorted with a killer of a week.

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

• BLOOD BROTHERS MOTHER #1 - The 100 Bullets team of Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso head back to the old West for a tale of revenge. When their mother is kidnapped, three children set out in pursuit, intent on freeing her and meting out justice on her assailants. Along the way they learn bitter lessons about the price of vengeance in what promises to be a gritty little tale. Risso is doing some lovely painted colour work on this which the oversized DSTLRY format showcases beautifully. Looking forward to it.

• GET FURY #1 - Speaking of things I've been looking forward to, Garth Ennis' return to his Max Comics imagining of Nick Fury, knee deep in blood in the middle of the Cold War. These comics, along with his Punisher Max work, are Ennis at his cynical best, tearing into Western foreign policy, with its secret wars and propping up of corrupt regimes. Ennis is joined by Jacen Burrows, as we head back to Vietnam, with Fury captured by the Viet Cong, his rescue in the hands of one Frank Castle.

• BLOOD HUNT #1 - Marvel's bloodiest event kicks off here, with gore levels so extreme that they've bagged the thing to protect the innocence of poor young children just looking for an Avengers comic (a gore-lite, slightly abridged, non-bagged edition is available, if you'd prefer). The vampires of the MU are making a push for world domination, with the Avengers and their vampire-killing buds standing in their way. 

• MYTHOLOGIES AND APOCRYPHA #1 - The incredible Tim Lane is back with a new series examining 20th Century masculinity, slicing it apart with his characteristically lush art, haunted vision of America's underbelly, and, of course, Steve McQueen. It's a part of his desire to bring back the single issue indie comic, so let's all help him along there.

• PUNK MAMBO PUNK WITCH PROJECT #1 - Peter Milligan returns to one of his old Valiant characters, anarchistic magician Punk Mambo. It's a one-shot drawn by Andres Ponce, as Punk gives a bit of supernatural attituide to old London town.

• DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE WWIII #1 - One of the seminal Deadpool writers, Joe Kelly, returns to the character along with X-legend Adam Kubert for a no-holds-barred mini-series starring Wade and Logan. Not sure why they'd choose to release this now. Nope, not a clue. Anyway, a mysterious character named Delta wants to change the world, and two kill-happy, regenerating mutants stand in their way. Let chaos commence!

• SUPERMAN HOUSE OF BRANIAC SPECIAL #1 - A tie-in one-shot to the Superman event currently running through his books. Joshua Williamson and Edwin Galmon reveal some of the untold stories behind Braniac's attack on Metropolis, including his link to the main man himself, Lobo!

• LESTER OF THE LESSER GODS #1 - Goon creator Eric Powell teams up with co-writer Luck Yates and artist Gideon Kendall for a typically irreverent tale. Lester, a bastard son of Odin, has saved the world from Satan, but now he's stuck on a blighted Earth, dealing with the usual kind of wacky ne'er-do-wells you get after an apocalypse.

• SPACE GHOST #1 - David Pepose and Jonathan Lau get a little gritty with Space Ghost, returning to his roots as a cosmic crime-fighter. When pirates attack the laboratory of scientist Jarrod Keplar, all seems lost for him and his children Jan and Jace (and yes, their pet monkey, Blip). That is until a mysterious space-vigilante gets involved.

• ROBOFORCE #1 - The IP-hoovering horror that is the "Nacelleverse" (basically, media company Nacelle has been buying up old below-the-radar animation and toy properties and sewing them into some kind of monstrous transmedia shared universe) serves up the nostalgia with all new adventures of mid-80's toy heroes Robo Force. I'm cynical, but I think this will be a decent ride for fans, with excellent Power Rangers writer Melissa Flores on board along with artist Diogenes Neves. Also, I've previously waxed lyrical about a Deathstalker comic that has Slash's name slapped on it, so who am I to talk?

• WHISPER QUEEN #1 - Chip Zdarsky and Kris Anka's Blacksand fantasy world (first seen in the White Trees mini) returns in this 3-issue mini. The King is dead, and his chief assassin must work with a group of bounty hunters to find the killers, all the while being hunted themselves by the feared spectre known only as the Whisper Queen.  

• TOXIC SUMMER #1 - A dayglo beach party nightmare courtesy of Derek Charm. Two teens are set on a debauched summer, only to find their plans turned upside down when a toxic spill creates mutant creatures who are snatching evening partygoers, and just plain ruining all the fun.

• DCS SPRING BREAKOUT #1 - DC says hi to Spring with the usual seasonal anthology one-shot featuring characters both major and minor. I wish the UK would say hi to Spring...

And that's just a taste of what's in this week! Fill your boots, and hopefully we'll see you on Saturday!

Andrew.