The Gosh! Authority 23.10.24

Hello! 

The Sea Beast! True story: I wrote a creative writing story in primary school based on that cover. Bore no relation to the actual story, but it was plenty of inspiration for my fevered 12-year old brain.

No events this week, so let's get stuck in!

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

• ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #1 - The second Absolute title arrives, and like the first it's a pretty big swing of a reinvention. No Themiscyra here, this Diana was raised in Hell. But against all odds she's grown up knowing love, compassion, and a strong sense of justice. Plus she's got a big sword and a skeletal pegasus. It's Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman on the book, and they promise a Diana you will still recognise as a character, with a setting and enemies that feel nice and fresh.

• IRON MAN #1 - Tony Stark is back in a new series, with new armor and a new creative team. Pulitzer Prize-winning US national security journalist Spencer Ackerman has apparently decided writing Iron Man is the way forward, and he's joined by Julius Ohta on art. AIM and Roxxon are out to take down Stark Unlimited, but Tony has decided the best defence is a good offence. Given the writer, I'm guessing we're going to see some US military-industrial complex stuff going on here.

• GREEN LANTERN DARK #1 - I haven't read this yet, but the preview art I've seen by Something is Killing the Children artist Werther Dell'Edera looks absolutely phenomenal. He's joined by fellow Slaughter-verse alumni Tate Brombal on writing duties for a horror-tinged tale set in - would you believe it - the remains of the Tangent universe. Evil has won, and the world is consumed by darkness and monsters, including an undead army led by Solomon Grundy. The only surviving hero is the Green Lantern, a last light of hope for humanity. So dramatic! But also: sold!

• DRACULA BOOK ONE TP THE IMPALER - The origins of Dracula, as told by the safe hands of Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones (what a pairing!) The first of a four volume series which is going to tell the tale of the man and the monster right up to the point of Bram Stoker's novel. I assume this first book will feature a child Drac skewering flies on toothpicks and mounting them on his windowsill or something? I don't know. What I do know is that this pair could create a book about tiny Dracula going to school, doing his chores, and maybe staring moodily into the night, and it would still be a) gripping, and b) look spectacular.

• GODZILLA’S MONSTERPIECE THEATRE #1 - Tom Scioli weaves his OTT, Kirby-esque magic on that most OTT of giant monsters. It's a League of Extraordinary Kaiju Hunters, if you will. Jay Gatsby, Jules Verne, Sherlock Holmes, Thomas Edison and the Time Machinist band together to take on the menace of the King of Monsters after it wrecks Gatsby's Long Island estate.

• NULLHUNTER #1 - Keen shelf-browers may have noticed a self-published graphic novel we carried a little while back called Anticucho, a brilliant collection of Peruvian cyberpunk stories by Gustavo Vargas. Well, Vargas is back as the artist on this new series by fan-fave writer/artist Michael Walsh. It's a sci-fi take on the labours of Hercules as damaged war hero Clay is pressed to service by his estranged father's corporation, OLYMPoS. His first job: tracking down a hijacked shipment of war lions.

• VOICES IN MY HEAD #1 - Joe Pruett, the mastermind behind the legendary Negative Burn, is back in the anthology game. He's pulled together Phil Hester, Juan Doe, Andrew Robinson and Michael Gaydos for some horror hijinks in this one-shot featuring an excellent Bolland cover. 

• DC HORROR PRESENTS #1 - A horror anthology mini-series which brings horror media celebrities on board to write spooky tales of the DCU. This issue sees artists Cat Staggs and Butch Mapa team up with actors David Dastmalchian and Leah Kilpatrick, and Dragula presenters the fabulous Boulet Brothers!

• HEADLESS HORSEMAN HALLOWEEN ANNUAL #1 - Speaking of David Dastmalchian, he's back with another of his annual anthologies of terror alongside artist Matt Smith and artist & writer Lukas Ketner. I think I'm beginning to see a theme with this week's new releases...

• HORIZON EXPERIMENT SACRED DAMNED #1 - Next up for the pilot season-styled series of Horizon Experiment one-shots is Sacred Damned, written by Sabir Pirzada (a screenwriter on the Ms Marvel and Moon Knight shows) and drawn by Michael Walsh (he's getting around this week). Meet Inayah Jibril, a character being pitched as the Muslim John Constantine. She's a full-time professor of Ethnography and the Occult, and a part-time demon hunter and exorcist. Pirzada is digging deep into varied Islamic tales of terror to bring a fresh take in this great-looking one-shot. 

• FEEDING #1 - David M. Booher and Drew Zucker, the creative team behind much-loved kids comic Canto, reteam for a decidedloy different project. The Feeding is a one-shot horror tale, featuring a man haunted by his past who falls prey to a possessed painting that must be fed. 

• HACK / SLASH BODY BAGS #1 - In a slightly random crossover, the late Jason Pearson's signature characters Mack and Panda Delgado come blade-to-blade with Cassandra Hack and her hulking sidekick Vlad. Tim Seeley and Stefano Caselli bring us this little flashback.

Phew, all done! And by the way: Absolute Batman #1 1st printings on eBay? Now going for £15-20! How much at Gosh? Well, my friends, still just £4.90 for quality folks such as yourselves.

See you next time!

Andrew.