The Gosh! Authority 26.06.24

Hello!

No events for us this week, so we'll take the opportunity to plug someone else's event instead: To Be Continued is a comics festival in Bedford, a sequel if you like to Bedford's NICE festival, taking place from the 14th-15th September. With a great line-up of guests including Esad Ribic, Jeff Dekal and Ben Oliver among others, it's well worth taking the half-hour train ride out of London for! Details (and tickets) available here.

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

• ZATANNA BRING DOWN THE HOUSE #1 - A new Black Label miniseries starring the premier DC speech-based spell-slinger, by the magical (ha ha) team of Mariko Tamaki and Javier Rodríguez. You'll no doubt be spellbound (ho ho) by the typically terrific Rodríguez art and the typically top-shelf Tamaki writing. All of which is a weirdly cheesy way of saying this is absolutely going to be the best book you read this week. Arbadacarba!

• ABSOLUTE POWER GROUND ZERO #1 - Time to kick off DC's first big event series in a while with a one-shot prequel that sets the stage. Amanda Waller has all her ducks in a row with the so-called "trinity of evil": Failsafe, Braniac Queen and the Suicide Squad. Time to roll out her plan for total domination of the world's superhumans. Absolute Power masterminds Mark Waid & Dan Mora headline a book that also includes Chip Zdarsky, Gleb Melnikov, Joshua Williamson, Nicole Maines, Skylar Patridge & V. Ken Marion on creative duties.

• THANOS ANNUAL #1 - Derek Landy & Salvador Larroca kick off the Inifnity Watch storyline that crosses over a number of the annuals this summer. Thanos is on the hunt for Infinity Stones again, that little rascal! There are 9 parts to the story in all, with each also including a chapter of The Death Stone Saga by Landy and Sara Pichelli. For a full list of the annuals involved, click here. And if you do want these, please let us know, as shelf copies might be scarce.

• ANANSI BOYS #1 - Marc Bernardin and the underrated Shawn Martinbrough kick off their adaptation of Neil Gaiman's bestselling novel. After his father dies, Charlie discovers that he is in fact the son of the African trickster god Anansi the Spider, and that he has a magical twin brother who is about to make his life considerably more complicated.

• GIANT-SIZE LITTLE MARVELS #1 - A bumper collection of humorous, kid-friendly strips by Skottie Young and Dax Gordine, featuring li'l versions of the Marvel characters. Originally serialised as digital comics, this is the first time these are seeing print, and is well worth the time to melt your cold, cynical little heart. Sorry, might be projecting a little there.

• X-MEN BLOOD HUNT MAGIK #1 - A Blood Hunt tie-in by Ashley Allen and Jesús Hervás, featuring the best New Mutant (you may disagree, but we all know it's true). Ilyana has gone back to Russia to reconnect with her home and explore her past, when suddenly: VAMPIRES! A classic peril for any journey of self-discovery.

• GATCHAMAN #1 - Or Battle of the Planets to 80s western kids like me (and I suspect a few of you). Gatchaman (or Science Ninja Team Gatchaman to give them their full title) are a team of 5 bird-themed superheroes who battle aliens, terrorists, and alien terrorists using martial arts and super-science. No doubt inspired by the success of Transformers, we're now reintroduced to Gatchaman thanks to Cullen Bunn and Chris Batista, who get all sci-fi action thriller with it.

• GATCHAMAN KEN DEATHMATCH #1 - But how much of a Battle of the Planets fan were you? Because not only do you get a new series featuring the full team, but also a series of one-shots focusing on each member (though based on the actual Japanese version of the characters, so don't expect a chirping Keyop). This first one sees Ken infiltrate a Bloodsport-style fighting competition which also acts a a recruitment drive for terrorist organisation Galactor. Tommy Lee Edwards writes (and provides a wicked cover) with art by Mindy Lee.

And that's all she wrote for another week, my friends! See you next time for more comics and stuff.

Andrew.