The Gosh! Authority 23.10.23

Hello!

Not much to say this week, so let's all just bask in some spooky season, pre-code goodness.

Actually, one thing to say: our Best of 2023 list is coming soon! We're hard at work hammering out some kind of staff consensus and a skeleton of a list is slowly taking shape. Look to mid-November for the reveal!

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

• GONE #1 - The first big series release by DSTLRY, and we're out the gate with none other than Jock, writing and drawing a sci-fi thriller. A young woman wants off the dead-end world she was born on, stowing away on a cruise liner to do so. But she falls in with a bad crowd and finds herself playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with ship security.

• GIANT ROBOT HELLBOY #1 - Duncan Fegredo returns to the world of Hellboy, bringing his characteristially beautiful work to a Mike Mignola script, featuring the giant mecha Hellboy that was a popular hit in Mignola's lockdown sketchbooks. Now with added narrative!

• UNIVERSAL MONSTERS DRACULA #1 - James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds, the team behind The Department of Truth, reteam for an adaptation of Bram Stoker's classic (through the lens of the classic Universal version). With this team, I'd expect more than just a wrote rehashing of the tale.

• EDENWOOD #1 - Tony Daniel writes and draws this new fantasy horror which posits an America where the Midwest has become a demonic wasteland, hemmed in by a territory controlled by demon-slaying witches. One such witch is tasked with entering the demon lands with a hit list of targets, accompanied by a coterie of demon hunters from across history. 

• SLOW BURN #1 - A new crime tale by Ollie Masters and Pierluigi Minotti. A trio of thieves on the run from a job gone wrong decide to hide out in an old mining town which is plagued by the smoke from the still burning fires of an old mining disaster. Turns out the people living in such a desperate, impoverished place might not be the pushovers they expected.

• CAPTAIN MARVEL #1 - A new #1 for Carol Danvers as Alyssa Wong and Jan Bazaldua take over the creative reigns. There's a brand new enemy in town who seems to have a good grasp on just how to take Captain Marvel out of play, and a brand new supporting cast as Carol starts a new chapter in her life. Needless to say, jumping on point!

• MARVEL ZOMBIES BLACK WHITE & BLOOD #1 - The Marvel undead get their chance at the black, white & red format in this four issue anthology series. What's notable is that among the creators on this first issue are Garth Ennis and Rachel Stott, getting their gore on.

• ALAN SCOTT GREEN LANTERN #1 - It's Alan Scott's turn for the spotlight as we head back to the earliest days of the Justice Society member's heroic career. Tim Sheridan & Cian Tormey handle this one.

• DARK SPACES DUNGEON #1 - Scott Snyder writes this installment in his Dark Spaces line, teaming with artist Hayden Sherman. A family move into a new rural home, only to discover a twisted dungeon on the property emblazoned with the instruction "Tell no one". Maybe time to move back to the city, if you ask me.

• PRISM #1 - So, I'm really not sure how to summarise this! Faced with crushing noise pollution, a corporation creates an agency tasked with creating a space-faring supergroup whose music will create some kind of cosmic cleansing wave? I dunno, it all sounds pretty crazy to me, but what I do know is that writer and artist Matteo De Longis makes it all look rather lovely.

• SPIRIT TRACERS #1 - Kickstarting (quite literally, it's a Kickstarter success story) a sci-fi saga by writer Mark Anthony Hutchinson with art by Ario Murti. A sprawling mix of science fiction and fantasy, it tells the story of a band of mystically powered defenders intent on stopping a planet-destroying evil. 

• PALADIN OF AXES #1 - Speaking of bands, when he and the band he's touring with are all killed in a plane crash, guitar tech Hector Smalley - the Paladin of Axes - is thrown into a demonic new world. Originally a substack release, Gerry Duggan and David O'Sullivan bring this horror comedy to print just in time for Halloween. 

• AMAZONS ATTACK #1 - In the wake of the events in Wonder Woman, a group of Amazons are fighting back. Nubia, Wonder Girl and Faruka II team up courtesy of Josie Campbell and Vasco Georgiev.

And that's your lot of this week. Pretty solid! See you next time, chums!

Andrew