Posted by Andrew on 31st Jan 2022

The Gosh! Authority 02.02.22

Hello!

Welcome to February, and a date that feels like a conspiracy theory waiting to come to fruition. Been a busy week for us (including a speedy stocktake), and Saga has well and truly returned, selling more copies than any comic since...well...the last issue of Saga. Only two weeks until Valentine's Day (and our 36th birthday!), so let's dive into this week's comics for all those first issues you couples will definitely want to buy for your special someone. Nothing says "I Love You" quite like Fantastic Four Reckoning War Alpha! 

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

  • X-CELLENT #1 - Oh hell yeah! After the welcome surprise of Giant Size X-Statix, Peter Milligan and Michael Allred are back for a new series with everyone's favourite weirdo superteam. Forget the X-Men: if Marvel could be said to have a true mirror of the Doom Patrol, these guys are it. The X-Statix are washed up, a has-been team for a different time. What the world wants now is an all-new, fresh team of celebrity mutants who'll push the envelope even further. Enter: The X-Cellent!

  • FANTASTIC FOUR RECKONING WAR ALPHA #1 - Dan Slott's dream crossover that's been in the offing since his She-Hulk run 15 years ago (and a very good run that was) is here at last. The big brain of Reed Richards (and the muscle of his pals) is the only thing that can stop a coming war whose origins lie in a time before the multiverse even existed. Carlos Magnos provides the very pretty art on this one. To be honest I'm just excited that this also features the Jack of Hearts, whose recent re-entry into the MU has made me very happy indeed. I'm guessing it's down to some kind of childhood nostalgia, but boy do I love that guy.

  • GEIGER 80-PAGE GIANT #1 - A bumper-sized collection of short stories set in the world of human glow stick Geiger. A vast line-up of creators shine the spotlight on the various crazy characters of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's post-apocalyptic world. We've got *deep breath* Geoff Johns, Peter J. Tomasi, Jay Faerber, Sterling Gates, Janet Harvey, Pornsak Pichetshote, Leon Hendrix III, Joe Prado, Kelley Jones, Staz Johnson, Peter Snejbjerg, Sean Galloway, Gary Frank, Paul Pelletier, Bryan Hitch & Megan Levens *phew*!

  • MONKEY PRINCE #1 - Journey to the West comes to the DC Universe as the son of legendary Chinese hero Monkey finds form in new Gotham City High School student Marcus Sun. As a kid Marcus has moved a lot due to the iterant nature of his (not real) parents' work as lackeys for Dr Sivana. But when he lands in Gotham a pig-featured man (Pigsy!) shows him his true nature: irrepressible! The equally irrepressible Gene Luen Yang writes, with Bernard Chang on art.

  • SABRETOOTH #1 - When last we saw Victor Creed he was being sentenced to an eternity in conscious stasis in a pit beneath Krakoa. But it turns out his imprisonment isn't turning out quite the way his captors intended: he's not alone down there, and he's made some kind of deal with his mysterious companion. Victor LaValle writes, Leonard Kirk draws and Sabretooth fans read.

  • NEW MASTERS #1 (OF 6) - Nigerian brothers Shobo and Shof present an Afrofuturist tale of a West Africa under the control of alien invaders, who covet the Earth's stores of obsidian. Against this backdrop a group of misfits discovers the existence of an ancient trove of knowledge that might be the key to removing the invader's colonial yolk once and for all.

  • PRIMOS #1 (OF 4) - Actor and comedian Al Madrigal teams up with artist Carlos Barbieri for this Latinx sci-fi epic. Two centuries ago two Mayan brothers built and launched a rocket into the depths of space. Now they have returned, one a would-be conqueror and the other determined to stop him. In order to do so he activates three descendants who are genetically programmed to act as the world's protectors. But can they work together to meet the threat given that they've never even met each other?

  • OFFICIAL IMAGE TIMELINE ONE SHOT - Jim Valentino, a man who has remained fairly neutral during all of the various bust-ups through Image history (mainly revolving around Rob Liefeld) gives his full account of the 30 year history of the company that changed everything back in the summer of 1992. It promises to be a "warts and all" account, and having listened to Rob's take on it in his "Robservations" podcast (which I once again heartily recommend even to those who can't stand the man) I'll be fascinated to read this.

  • SAVAGE SPIDER-MAN #1 - Joe Kelly picks up where he and Chris Bachalo (now replaced with Gerardo Sandoval) left off in Non-Stop Spider-Man. The remit is the same: action-packed Spider-Man stories that give you everything you love about the character without being bogged down in massive amounts of continuity. This one, which sees Spidey transform into a savage man-spider, is a five-issue mini, and I wonder if perhaps that'll be the format for the Kelly stories from here on out? Anyway, strap in for adventure! (Though of course the apex for man-spider transformations in Spider-Man comics remains the Tarantula's tragic transformation in ASM #236. *sob*)

Err...spoilers.

  • MIGHTY MMW DOCTOR STRANGE TP VOL 01 - Another welcome addition to the Mighty MMW line of affordable softcover repackagings of the classic Marvel comics. Go back to the beginnings of the good Doctor and get some peak Lee & Ditko with stories from Strange Tales and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2. As with previous volumes, this comes in classic Ditko cover flavour or all-new Michael Cho!

And that's us done for another week! See you next time, comic-lovers!

Andrew.