The Gosh! Authority 16.06.21

Hello!

In case you missed them, we made a few pretty choice exclusive product announcements this past week! There was a lovely David Aja Judge Dredd print that comes with a signed certificate of authenticity, Tom Gauld's latest book - Little Wooden Robot and the Log Princess - that comes with a die-cut bookplate, and a big A5 bookplated edition of Dave McKean's latest book Raptor. We're slowly getting back into the swing of things!

Pretty solid week this week with a few big titles hitting the shelves. Let's take a look...

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

• SUPERGIRL WOMAN OF TOMORROW #1 - Tom King teams up with Bilquis Evely (who is doing some of her best work yet) for an 8-issue sci-fi story starring Kara Zor-El, Krypto and an alien girl looking for revenge. Supergirl heads into space at the behest of said girl seeking those who have a destroyed her planet (a subject close to Supergirl's heart). King is having fun here, with heavy doses of John Carter and Flash Gordon in the mix, and the phenomenal art really captures that classical feel. Feels like it might be a bit of a special one! If you're down for Strange Adventures I'll pop this aside for you: I think you're gonna like it!
  

• STREET COP SC - We are one of only a few comic shops that have been able to participate in the launch of this: a piece of short fiction by Robert Coover with illustrations by Art Spiegelman - his first substantial original work since 2009's Be A Nose. It's a deadpan sci-fi noir comedy, as a nameless protagonist reforms from his past mistakes by becoming the only human cop in a world policed by robots. It's a surrealist romp, and Spiegelman's full-page illustrations tap into all of his early-20th Century strip influences to fully capture its absurdity. This has been produced by Isolarii, a literary  subscription service, and is extremely limited. Each pocket-sized edition comes sealed, and in one of them somewhere in the print run (not necessarily in ours) there's an original Spiegelman sketch. Feeling lucky?
  

• STATIC SEASON ONE #1 - The return of the best-known (and let's face it: best) character from the Milestone Universe! Vita Ayala and ChrisCross take us back to the beginning as Virgil Hawkins tries to come to terms with his new powers. He's angry and frustrated, and finally feels like he can do something about it. But he's also dismayed to discover that the bullies who have made his life miserable of late also developed superpowers during the protest in Dakota where he and others were exposed to experimental tear gas.
  

• PLANET-SIZED X-MEN #1 - The tentpole of the Hellfire Gala is here! We've had hints of what happens in this issue so far, but everything is revealed in this bumper issue by Jonathan Hickman, Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz. Secret Agendas! Big reveals! Important changes! To be honest they've given so little away that I can't really tell you much, and things I thought were going to be big reveals here - the nature of Emma's fireworks show, the new team announcement - have already been shown in other HG issues. So I guess I'll find out when you do!
  

• VENOM #200 - Or #35 if you prefer. Yes, everyone's favourite hero who used to eat brains has actually hit 200 issues of comics (across various runs and minis)! It's Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman's final issue after a landmark run, and they're saying goodbye in style with an oversized issue that looks back over the past and sets the stage for what's to come, with enough variant covers to level a small forest.
  

• JUPITERS LEGACY REQUIEM #1 (OF 12) - The final arc of Jupiter's Legacy from Mark Millar and Tommy Lee Edwards (who, while not being Frank Quitely, is a pretty acceptable substitute). In the wake of the original mini-series, Chloe and Hutch have led the superheroes into a new era of cooperation with humanity. But as you might expect, things begin to fall apart as the island where the first heroes got their powers begins to reveal its secrets. Turns out you're never going to get closure on the Netflix series, so better pick this up!
  

• REPRESENT #1 - This is a really interesting one from DC. Originally a digital-only series of shorts, now collected into a bumper one-shot first issue (with a full series to come later), Represent is about giving a voice to the experiences of creators from US minorities. It's a mix of autobiography, reportage and fiction, with the first issue touching on all three as Christian Cooper, Alitha Martinez & Mark Morales tell the story of Jules, a young black man who goes bird watching in Central Park. In the fates of several birds he sees parallels to real-life incidents of unjust police killings, and he himself faces discrimination that mirrors that experienced by Cooper, whose encounter with a woman walking her dog while he was bird-watching made international headlines.

• SEVEN SWORDS #1 - This looks like some silly fun. The final Musketeer, D'Artagnan, teams with a group of legendary heroes (including Don Juan, Captain Blood and Cyrano de Bergerac) to finally defeat Cardinal Richelieu's evil plans. Riccardo Latina & Evan Daugherty do the honours.

• SAVE YOURSELF #1 (OF 4) - Bones Leopard and artists Kelly & Nichole Matthews put a novel spin on the magical girl genre. Gigi is a huge fan of the Lovely Trio, a team of glamorous girl superheroes who appeared to save Earth from alien invasion in its darkest hour. But Gigi sees something during a battle she witnesses which gives her cause to question everything she knows about the Lovely Trio.
  

• COMPASS #1 (OF 5) - Middle Ages adventure, as Shahidah El-Amin - a scholar of Islam's Golden Age - travels from Baghdad to Wales in search of the secret of eternal life. Robert Mackenzie, Dave Walker and Justin Greenwood re-team fresh off the back of their appearance in Old Guard Tales Through Time.
  

• HEROES REBORN WEAPON X AND FINAL FLIGHT #1 - In the wastelands of Canada only one team stands between the Squadron Supreme and what remains of the Canadian people: Final Flight and their leader, Weapon X! Ed Brisson & Roland Boschi dish the dirt on Canada's last line of defence.

And that's it, all! See you next week!

Andrew.