The Gosh! Authority 04.09.24

Hello!

This week sees the launch party for our exclusive bookplate edition of J. Webster Sharp's amazing Scrapbook of Life and Death, from Avery Hill! Head on down on Thursday, 7-9pm, to raise a glass and grab a copy! Details here (and check out the fabulously macabre plate below!)

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

• MINOR ARCANA #1 - Jeff Lemire writes and draws this new series for Boom, which plays to all of his strengths. Dysfuctional family dynamics with dark secrets? Suffocating small towns? Creepy supernatural goings-on? You got it! And how about he throws in some tarot storytelling tricks for good measure? This one looks great, and we're even giving away some of the bookplates that will eventually grace the collection of this with the first issue! Pre-order here to avoid disappointment (or skip the singles entirely and pre-order the book here.)

• EXCEPTIONAL X-MEN #1 - After the fall of Krakoa, Kitty Pryde is living the quiet life, working behind a bar in Chicago, trying to date, trying not to get involved in X-Men nonsense. Emma Frost, with a group of new X-students in tow, has other ideas. The next From the Ashes era core book is upon us, with Eve Ewing and Carmen Carnero at the helm!

• PLASTIC MAN NO MORE #1 - Remember how Plastic Man was a two-bit crook before the accident that gave him his powers? He doesn't, and after a JLA mission goes awry, he's on a mission to make amends before an accelerated cellular breakdown leaves him as a pile of sludge, and hopefully save his son from a life of crime. Christopher Cantwell & Jacob Edgar bring us this out-of-continuity Black Label mini. 

• CONAN BATTLE OF THE BLACK STONE #1 - Kicking off a storyline that will takes us through all the main players of Robert E. Howard's imaginary world, including Conan, Solomon Kane, Dark Agnes and more. Regular Conan scribe Jim Zub joins artist Jonas Scharf for this mini-event mini-series as some kind of threatens all time and space.

• UFO MUSHROOM INVASION GN - Never mind the aliens, what about their damn fungi? That's the essential question of this Japanese sci-fi horror classic by Shirakawa Marina, which sees the world in peril thanks to the escaped spores from a crashed flying saucer. File this under "I didn't even think I liked manga until I tried....UFO MUSHROOM INVASION!"

• MARVEL & DISNEY WHAT IF DONALD DUCK BECAME THOR #1 - It's a Duck-ish retelling of the origin of Thor, as Donald discovers an enchanted cane while on a field-trip with his nephews. Steve Behling, Riccardo Secchi & Lorenzo Pastrovicchio bring the thunder! And the ducks!

• DUCK & COVER #1 - Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque reteam for a tidy little 3-issue mini-series set in the 1950s, where two young protagonists dealing with the prejudices and fears of the age are swept up into a new apocalyptic age when the bombs start dropping.

• UNIVERSAL MONSTERS FRANKENSTEIN #1 - Michael Walsh has long been one to watch, and thanks to his Silver Coin series he's now got some serious horror comic chops. So he's a good choice to write and draw this reimagining of the Universal Frankenstein story, which sees the good doctor unleash some unforseen circumstances as he begins his grave-robbing ways.

• AUTUMN KINGDOM #1 - One-man horror machine Cullen Bunn teams up with Christopher Mitten for a slice of dark fantasy. A writer takes his family to a cabin on the edge of the woods (red flag right there) in the Swedish wilderness to finish his book. Wandering in the woods, his children discover strange statues of fairytale heroes and monsters. But something else is in woods, something which snatches their parents and sends them on a quest to find a weapon with which they can fight back.

• SPIDER-MAN HOMEROOM HEROES #1 - It's great to see Marvel banging out some actual all-ages superhero comics, so here's hoping it continues! Steve Foxe and Arianna Florean bring some kid-friendly Spidey business.

• MARVEL ZOMBIES DAWN OF DECAY #1 - It's a completely different take on the Marvel Zombies, as Groot unleashes some kind of alien plant plague on the population of Earth. It's up to him and the Hulk - the only other immune hero - to fix things before the world is lost forever. I blame creators Thomas Krajewski & Jason Muhr.

• FARSCAPE 25TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL #1 - Alright puppet alien fans, your time has come! Celebrate 25 years of the beloved sci-fi franchise with this anthology one-shot featuring Sina Grace, Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Zac Thompson, Sarah Gailey, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Stefano Simeone &  Francesco Mortarino.

• TRINITY SPECIAL WORLDS FINEST #1 - A reprint of the fun Trinity & Super-Sons back-up stories from the pages of Wonder Woman, by Tom King and Belén Ortega.

And that is it for this week, pals! See you next time!

Andrew.