The Gosh! Authority 13.04.22

Hello!

Free Comic Book Day 2022 is just around the corner! Saturday the 7th May will see us do our first semi-normal FCBD since 2019, with a children's drawing table in the morning and signings in the afternoon! We're still ironing out the final details, so expect a big info dump next week on what to expect.

The BFI is currently running an absolutely incredible season of anime, with screenings running throughout April and May. From classics such as Akira, Grave of the Fireflies (AKA the most depressing movie of all time) and Patlabor, through to collections of shorts and the best of modern Japanese animation. Be sure to check out this stuff on the big screen while you have the chance! Details here.

The two JLA Avengers TPs we put up for raffle went last Friday. Congrats to the winners, and thanks so much to everyone who bought a ticket. You all helped raise nearly £600 for Centrepoint UK!

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

• SANDMAN UNIVERSE NIGHTMARE COUNTRY #1 - So you're a DC editor and you're looking at keeping the Sandman Universe alive. But who can write it? If only you had a super-hot author currently working for you who had both mainstream appeal and serious chops as a horror writer. Well, good news DC editor, because James Tynion IV is just an email away! Tynion pairs with artists Lisandro Estherren and Yanick Paquette for a story of tht most notorious of nightmares, the Corinthian. Yes, ol' toothy-eyes is back in our world, unleashed by Dream to catch an even worse nightmare not of Dream's making.

• GHOST IN YOU HC A RECKLESS BOOK - I'm sure you know the drill by now: Brubaker + Phillips = Crime Comics Treat. It's great that these two have actually managed to make the OGN model work for them, delivering a substantial hit of hard-bitten tales every quarter or so. Originally announced as a trilogy, looks like we're spending a little more time in 80's LA with Ethan Reckless. Well, actually this time it's Anna's chance to shine, investigating a infamous Hollywood murder mansion!

• FLASHPOINT BEYOND #0 - Hey, hey, who wants an EVENT???? Okay, but bear with me here. What if that event kicks off with this one-shot written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Eduardo Risso? If your response is "hold on, maybe I was too hasty", then I'm right there with you. Of course some of you might be "Flashpoint? Hell yeah!", and that's fair enough too. Thomas Wayne, the grittier-than-gritty Batdad of Flashpoint is back, looking to solve the mystery of the Flashpoint universe's apparent resurrection. This zero issue acts as a prelude to the upcoming 6 issue mini which takes us across the DC multiverse in search of answers.

• IMAGE! #1 - In celebration of Image's 30th anniversary comes this new year-long, monthly anthology showcasing some of Image's top creators. It'll feature serials spun out of existing series, and stories that will debut upcoming series. In this issue you've got Kyle Higgins, Geoff Johns, Brenden Fletcher, Wyatt Kennedy, Skottie Young, Declan Shalvey, Mirka Andolfo, Andrea Mutti, Babs Tarr, Daniele Di Nicuolo & Luana Vecchio. 

• X-MEN ‘92 HOUSE OF XCII #1 - In a stroke of genius someone has asked the question: What If... The Krakoan Age Started In 1992? Yep, travel back to heady early 90's with Professor X and the gang as they establish the mutant nation of Krakoa. But needless to say, things don't go quite the same way as they did in HoX/PoX. Jump on for five issues of what looks to be a fun pastiche of X-Books at the time. Sample Wolverine dialogue: "Grr...I ain't dreaming any more, Summers. I'm here for PAYBACK!"

• ELEKTRA #100 - Another big milestone issue for a Marvel character (usually calculated in a slightly dubious fashion across various minis and ongoings over the years) sees assassin/hero/technically-a-zombie Elektra Natchios hit the century. Stories by Ty Templeton, Declan Shalvey, Ann Nocenti, Chris Giarrusso, Sid Kotian, & Stefano Raffaele look back on her past, and set the stage for her future. 

• ROCKETEER THE GREAT RACE #1 - Fan-fave Stephen Mooney has some fun celebrating the 40th anniversary of Dave Stevens' pulp hero. It's the eve of WWII, and Cliff Secord is in an air race from California to Paris. But sinister forces are trying to hijack the race for their own purposes (I'll take a stab in the dark here and say Nazis.)

• TOWN CALLED TERROR #1 - A new series by the grandaddy of modern horror comics, Steve Niles, and artist Szymon Kudranski. A man is kidnapped in front of his wife, dragged from his bed and taken to a place where monsters rule. His wife must try and find him before it's too late, and with him seeming to have disappeared into thin air, the authorities are of no help. The first story in what Niles and Kuranski are intending to be a whole new universe.

• MIDNIGHT ROSE #1 - A new one-shot by the legendary Jim Starlin, with art by Nikkol Jelenic. It's a tale of revenge and flowers. Seriously, all the publicity I've read on this from Starlin talks about how much he loves flowers, and Jelenic even works doing flower arrangements as her day job. So expect a slice of accurately-protrayed botanical horror.

And that's it for this week, folks! See you next time.

Andrew.