The Gosh! Authority 11.01.23

Hello!

This Wednesday sees the Reads reading group return for 2023, covering Lizzy Stewart's Alison, one of our best books of 2022! Everyone is welcome to this monthly GN discussion: get the details here.

Not much to report this week, other than that we're back to normal shipping schedules, and the missing Marvel Previews for this month arrives at last this week. If you've got a standing order for Previews, it'll get filed away for you, and if you picked a copy of the big catalogue up off the shelf just let us know and we'll furnish you with a copy.

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

• AVENGERS WAR ACROSS TIME #1 - Paul Levitz (on his first work for Marvel) and Alan Davis unite for a tale of the classic Avengers. While battling against the Hulk, the Avengers are flung through time thanks to the interference of Kang. Mainly I'm here for the Davis art though. Does anyone draw superheroes better?

• DEGA HC - Gosh fave Dan McDaid gets his previously crowdfunded graphic novel released through Oni in a lovely new edition. While his talent as an artist is long established, McDaid proves his chops as a writer in this OGN set on a alien world, where the survivor of a crashed spaceship learns what secrets lie at the heart of the planet. The mash up of McDaid's influences makes for a heady mix. Highly recommended. 

• LAZARUS PLANET ALPHA #1 - The next big DC event that spins out of the pages of Batman vs Robin. The Lazarus Volcano has erupted, releasing dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere that are transforming people around the globe into superbeings and plunging the world into chaos. Damien Wayne leads the charge to put things right, as Mark Waid, Gene Luen Yang, Billy Tan & Riccardo Federici set the stage for a new status quo in the DCU.

• NEMESIS RELOADED #1 - Mark Millar's bastard Batman is back after a 12 year gap, this time with Batman artistic superstar Jorge Jiminez in tow. Not a lot of plot information available on this, but Nemesis always stood as a bit of a highlight from that era of Millar's output, pushing the boundaries of good taste while ripping into the idea of what a genius billionaire might actually do if he threw on some spandex. 

• BLACK CLOAK #1 - Captain Marvel writer Kelly Thompson teams up with Meredith McLaren for a new fantasy/sci-fi mash up as two detective-types known as Black Cloaks attempt to solve the murder of a much-loved prince. It's a triple-sized first issue, so good value for its £4.90 price tag. 

• SPAWN UNWANTED VIOLENCE #1 - Mike Del Mundo brings his beautiful art to the world of Spawn in this two-part mini written by the Toddster himself. I'm not going to sell this as th second coming of Shakespeare or anything, but Del Mundo's art is always worth checking out.

And that's it for another pretty modest January week! See you next time pals!

Andrew.