The Gosh! Authority 03.05.23

Hello!

There's only ONE event everyone is talking about this week, a day so momentous that even King Charles is getting in on the action: Free Comic Book Day 2023 is upon us!

Come down this Saturday and help us celebrate, with the biggest FCBD we've had since 2019. Yes, there will be our kids drawing table from 10-1! 

Yes, there will be signings (three of 'em)! Yes, we'll have live window painting! And yes, there will of course be FREE COMICS! Get all the details by clicking here.

Just a reminder: due to the bank holiday, this week's comics will be arriving to us to go out on Wednesday, meaning they will not be on the shelves when we open. We generally hope to have everything out for lunchtime, but really it depends on the kindess of couriers. Give us a shout if you're coming in sooner rather than later. Oh, and don't forget that this is also happening with next week's delivery as well. Pesky holidays!

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

• SHAZAM #1 - The dream team of Waid and Mora turn their talents to Billy Batson and friends in this new series that promises to turn the fun superhero action dial all the way up. Case in point: our first villain is the Emperor of the Moon, with his sights set on the conquest of Gorilla City.

• X-MEN BEFORE THE FALL SONS OF X #1 - The Krakoan Age is ending, and these one-shots by ther regular X-teams are paving the way. This time around Simon Spurrier and Phil Noto paint a picture of a mutant world in disarray and try to answer the question "Who'd win: Legion or Nimrod?" 

• MAPLE TERRACE #1 - Noah (not Ethan) Van Sciver makes a welcome return to autobiographical comics with this 3-issue series set during his 90's childhood. His trademark mix of humour and bittersweet melancholia are on full display, as are his excellent cartooning chops.

• PEACEMAKER TRIES HARD #1 - Kyle Starks and Steve Pugh take on everyone's favourite Suicide Squad nutcase in this Black Label mini-series. What will Peacemaker do to get back his newly aquired canine companion? Kill a bunch of people is my guess.

• GROOT #1 - A journey back to Groot's early, pre-Guardians days as he fights to save his planet alongside a Kree soldier named Mar-Vell. Seminal GotG writer Dan Abnett is joined by artist Damian Couceiro.

• SPIDER-MAN 2099 DARK GENESIS #1 - Steve Orlando continues to play with the 2099 toys in this new series with artist Justin Mason. Timely, given Miguel O'Hara's apparently rather large role in the new Miles Morales animated film Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse (which I am outlandishly excited about).

• CARNAGE REIGNS ALPHA #1 - Miles Morales and Carnage go head to head in a crossover that kicks off with this one-shot. Cletus Kasady is back on the rampage, and it's up to Miles to stop him. Local boy made good Alex Paknadel writes with Cody Ziglar on art.

• CULT OF CARNAGE MISERY #1 - Liz Allen decides that one only way to defend her son from the Red Goblin is to get some of that symbiote goo into her veins. Which is unfortunate, given that the new Red Goblin IS her son. Oh the irony! Sabir Pirzada and Francesco Mortarino are on this one.

• EDGE OF THE SPIDER-VERSE #1 - Wait, another EotSV #1? Man, I can't keep up! Still, this one includes a story by Zander Cannon (apparently introducing a "the scariest Spider-character ever"), so I'll have a look. 

• SURVIVAL #1 - An Alaskan family reunion which promised to be tense enough already goes completely off the rails when a monstrous power gets involved. Sean Lewis and Bryndon Everett dish out some wilderness horror.

• STARSIGNS #1 - An all-new superhero series by Saladin Ahmed & Kelly Fitzpatrick that sees 12 people granted the powers of the zodiac. How will these newly acquired abilities affect their lives and what will they decide to do with them? You're gonna need to buy the comic to find that out!

• LAMENTATION #1 - Act one of a theatrical horror by one-man-fear-industry Cullen Bunn and Arjuna Susini. An actress gets the role of the lifetime with a play steeped in gothic horror. But there's more to the story than mere fiction, and not all the blood is fake.

And I'm outta here! See you next time!

Andrew.