The Gosh! Authority 27.04.22

Hello!

We're lucky enough to have Christian Ward returning to sign with us this Wednesday, 5-6pm! His new book from Image - in collaboration with artist Patric Reynolds - is Blood Stained Teeth, and with #1 shipping this week we thought it'd be wonderful to have Christian back to celebrate! Plus he'll have a small number of prints available here on the day for keen attendees! You can get all the details by clicking here.

And of course I'd be remiss not to give Free Comic Book Day a plug as well! We've got our kids drawing table, a signing with Kieron Gillen, and thousands of comics to give away, Don't miss out: Saturday 7th May. Click here for details.

And lastly a bit of admin. This Wednesday sees a new staff member joining us (say hi to Bryn), bringing us up to full staffing for the first time since the pandemic hit. With a full complement now in place, I'm pleased to announce that from Monday 9th May, we will be returning to our standard opening hours of 10.30am - 7pm, 7 days a week. Mark your diaries, late shoppers!

Funny old week this week. Quite a big one, but not that many new titles to talk about. Let's get into it, shall we?

HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK

• AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1 - In the year of his 60th anniversary, Spidey gets a bumper-sized new #1 courtesy of Zeb Wells and the man who has probably drawn more pages of Spider-Man than any other (apart from maybe Mark Bagley, but does Ultimate count?): John Romita Jr! In the wake of events in ASM #93, Spider-Man is on his own, shunned even by those whom he once counted as friends. So who's going to help him when Doc Ock and Tombstone come calling? A perfect jumping on point!

• BLOOD-STAINED TEETH #1 - Christian Ward jumps into the writers chair, with Patric Reynolds on art duties and striking colours by Heather Moore, in this new ongoing series from Image. Organised crime meets the vampire underworld as we meet our anti-hero Atticus Sloane. He's something of a hustler, something of a scumbag, and for the right price he'll turn those looking to join the ranks of vampires. A vampire story with a difference, delving into the complexities of vamp society.

• KNIGHTS OF X #1 - It's Excalibur for the new Krakoan Age, as Captain Britain forms a new team of Otherworld X-Men. Now trapped in the magical end of the X-universe, with Merlyn and King Arthur in tyrannical control with Furies as their stromtroopers, Betsy must form a new round table to fight for mutant freedom. Tini Howard and Bob Quinn are going full mutant high fantasy on this one!

• STATICS #1 - Missed this one last week, so I thought I should drop it in here! Cult folk star (and cult boyfriend) Jeffrey Lewis is back with the follow-up to his acclaimed series Fuff, this time published by Fantagraphics. If you're familiar with Lewis, you'll know how fundamental comics are to his work: it's not unusual for him to accompany performances with comic book flip-charts. His ode to Alan Moore is a good example. It's the usual endearing mix of autobiography and fictional whimsy in the first issue of this new anthology series written and drawn by Lewis, and comes highly recommended for fans of the heyday of 90s indie comics.

• JUSTICE LEAGUE #75 - It would be very easy for me to give some kind of pithy, cynical response to this cover burb, but y'know what? I'm going to take the high road on this one. So....IT'S THE DEATH OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE! Yes, DC's premier heroes are killed in battle with the Dark Army, and only one will survive to warn the other heroes of Earth of what's coming for them. This final issue of the current series also sets up the Dark Crisis event, thanks to Joshua Williamson and Rafa Sandoval.

• BRITISH PARANORMAL SOCIETY #1 - A trip back into the Edwardian history of the Mignolaverse with British Paranormal Society members Simon Bruttenholm and Honora Grant (last seen in the pages of Witchfinder) as they investigate strange goings-on in the town of Noxton. There's a missing assistant, strange local traditions, and a dark secret all thanks to Mike Mignola, Chris Roberson and Andrea Mutti.

And that's your lot! See you next time, pals!

Andrew