The Gosh! Authority 16.10.24

Hello!

Only a couple of weeks to Halloween!

But first, it's time for Reads, the monthly graphic novel reading group! They'll be meeting this Wednesday, 7-9pm, to discuss E.M. Carroll's superb, spooky tome A Guest in the House. Reads is open to all, so please feel free to come on down, meet some comics-loving folks, and have a lively chat! Details here.

Hey, did you miss out on last week's Absolute Batman #1? It's a sellout everywhere, already going to a 3rd printing, with copies of the first print going on eBay for £7 - £10, would you believe. Well, I ordered bucketloads of the thing, so we still have plenty in stock at the regular cover price of £4.90. Get 'em while the getting's good!

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

• BATMAN AND ROBIN YEAR ONE #1 - The dream team of Mark Waid and Chris Samnee reunite for a take on the early days of Bruce Wayne's adoption journey where he turns a grieving young man into a child soldier to further his own need for vengeance on a world that wronged him. I mean...helps a grieving young man heal by giving him purpose and a chance to right the injustices that cost him his parents, and in turn, allows himself the opportunity to love and trust again; to be part of a family. Something like that, anyway. What there will be is good writing and pretty pictures, and what more do you want from a comic? 

• MYSTIQUE #1 - Speaking of good writing and pretty pictures, Declan Shalvey does both on this new mini featuring a bit of espionage cat and mouse between Nick Fury and Mystique. She's back up to her old tricks in the wake of the Krakoan era, again a feared mutant terrorist. I get the sense Shalvey is channelling some Bourne Identity stuff here, with a propulsive action comic that promises to be a whole lot of fun.

• BATMAN FULL MOON #1 - What's cooler than a Batman comic where he takes on a werewolf? A Batman comic where he takes on a werewolf, with a glow-in-the-dark cover. Yep, every issue of this mini has a GITD cover, one of the few gimmicks I'm always a sucker for. It's also written by Killadelphia's Rodney Barnes with art by Stefan Subic, so that bodes well. I'm actually normally quite indifferent to a lot of Batman stories. Never really gelled with the character, as I've no doubt droned on about before. But you throw a monster in there? I'm in, little horror junkie that I am. So that's two Batman books I'm quite keen on this week! Inconceivable!

• MOON KNIGHT FIST OF KHONSHU #1 - You had the sneaky #0 release back in July (we've still got some copies if you missed it), and now Marc Spector is back with his new ongoing title written by regular Moonscribe Jed MacKay, working with artist Alessandro Cappuccio. Expect the usual brutal street-level action as he gets the Midnight Mission gang back together.

• CRYPT OF SHADOWS #1 - Marvel's now annual anthology spotlighting the creepier corners of the Marvel Universe arrives once more. We've got Benjamin Percy, Chris Condon, Jason Loo, Steve Orlando, Carlos Magno, Claire Roe, Djibril Morissette-Phan and Raffaele Ienco on board for this one.

• NIGHT OF THE SLASHERS #1 - When a bunch of kids have their bus break down in the town of Hill Creek, they assume it's no big deal. Just have to kill a little time in an idyllic small US town. But one night a year the people of Hill Creek turn into maniac killers, and a bus full of kids is one gigantic target. Some horror fun from Cavan Scott and Paul Fry.

• EXORCISM AT 1600 PENN #1 - A new supernatural thriller by writer Hannah Rose May and artist Vanesa R. Del Rey (feels like she's been very busy lately what with this and Creeping Below). An incoming President discovers that the halls of the White House are haunted by an evil presence that is corrupting the heart of the country. Who would have believed it? Anyway, if she wants to avert WWIII and save her family, President Kelly will have to battle enemies both political and spiritual.

• VICARIOUS #1 - A sci-fi thriller by Ryan Parrott and Eleonora Carlini where a new kind of influencer has arisen. Proxies are young, beautiful people, living hedonistic, exciting lifestyles. The catch is that they all have implants which transmit their emotions and experiences to those wealthy enough to pay the price. But how much do you have the envelope to stand out among your proxy peers? Newly initiated Justin is going to find out.

And that's it for this week. Vaya con dios!

Andrew.